The Pentium D: Intel's Dual Core Silver Bullet Previewed

By Patrick Schmid
published

Overclocking To 4 GHz

Of course we had to check whether the Pentium D offers overclocking potential. The answer is a definite 'yes, it does' - but beware of the heat issues this causes! At 4 GHz we had to apply massive cooling in order to keep the system stable enough for benchmarking. Practically speaking, 3.8 and 4.0 GHz won't be doable without liquid cooling.

It is in this area that we see the one place where the Pentium Extreme Edition shines: it is the only Intel processor that comes with higher multipliers unlocked (x14 and above). Once again, Intel seems to be following the path that AMD blazed with the unlocked Athlon 64 FX.

3.4 GHz is a 6% overclocking, which did not cause any problems at all.

3.8 GHz was the maximum clock speed for ordinary air cooling.

The Pentium Extreme Edition ran at 4 GHz, but we can't say it was stable.

Patrick Schmid
2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DaveF1953
    How much can the Extreme Edition be had for now? $40? Sounds like a deal to me. Although, older, hotter, and slower in the long run. Best bet now. No?
    Reply
  • wild9
    I'd just go AMD or Core 2, the former having a much lower power draw and great overclocking potential than what you have here. My relative used to run Intel Extreme Editions like this, and the power draw was immense, he had to use water cooling. In the end he ditched it and got AMD. Not trying to say one is better than the other all the time (ie for media encoding the Intel was great), just some ideas to consider. Cheap dual-core AMD's based on AM2 are hard to beat at the moment.
    Reply