Why are Intel Pentium D Processors so cheap?

Question

I can purchase a 3ghz Dual Core Pentium D cpu for less than $100.00, but a Intel Core 2 Duo cpu costs over $300.00. What makes them so much higher? Would a 3ghz Dual Core Pentium D processor be an improvement on my 3ghz Intel Pentium4 processor?

Answer 1

Damn herbg why are you being so generous, what Justin said is entirely untrue. The Core 2 Duos do not have hyperthreading, and frankly he doesn't really even appear to know what hyperthreading is.

As for the question, the Pentium Ds are cheaper because the Core 2 Duos are faster, pretty simple. A 3.0Ghz Pentium D would be a slight upgrade over what you have now, but mostly just for multitasking. A Core 2 Duo would be a substantial upgrade.

Answer 2

The Pentium D chips are two generations behind the Core 2 Duo processors. The Core 2 chips are more efficient and can do more calculations per clock cycle. The higher bus speeds also improve performance.

A Dual Core Pentium D would be faster than your P4 processor. Even faster if your apps can make use of the dual cores.

Added: What Justin is saying below is not entirely true. Hyperthreading is a way to have one processor act like it has two cores. Essentially, the processor is able to execute 2 processes, or threads, at the same time. The later P4's and the Pentium D Extreme Editions were Hyperthreading. They removed Hyperthreading from the Core 2 Processors because it is not very efficient.

The Core 2 processors don't really add their two cores together. The software must optimized for multiple processors to make use of both cores at the same time. For instance, Photoshop is able to use both cores and it makes a huge difference in performance. More applications are being made to make use of multiple cores. Windows Vista has better support for multicore processors than XP did. OS X does an even better job. There is talk that the Core 2 processors will eventually have Hyperthreading, so the two cores will handle 2 threads per core and can effectively handle 4 threads.

Answer 3

Core 2 duo's support hyper threading, and pentium D's do not. Hyper threading means that both cores can be thoroughly utiziled to process one thread of info, where a non-hyper threading chip can process two streams at once, but not one at a super high rate of speed.

So, you can run 2 things at 3.0 ghz each, or one thing at 6.0 ghz with a core2duo. With a pentium D dual core, you can only run 2 things at 3.0 ghz each. This is good for multi tasking, but if you really want serious power, go with the duo. If your a gamer or do a lot of graphics intense stuff, its worth the extra cash - easilly.

Answer 4

as properly the obtrusive, diverse mfr's and diverse connectors... take a seem at this website. you in basic terms elect the two processors you may decide to analyze and then p.c.. a benchmark. AMD beats Intel in maximum gaming circumstances yet Intel does properly in maximum different classes. in my opinion I want AMD. while you're questioning AMD seem into socket AM2, it rather is the latest version of the Athlon64s and is the destiny. fee and speed are compareable to socket 939 chips.

Answer 5

they are being phased out. Intel no longer produces pentium D, its all core2 duo or quad.