intel pentium D 2.6 GHz

[mohsan1987]

aoa. i am going to upgrade my pc. i have 2 options for processor one is
intel pentium 4 3.06 HT with 1MB CACHE
and second is
intel pentium D dual core 2.6GHz with 2MB CACHE. AND motherboard is intel D865GSA.
now please suggest me which processor is better. i want to upgrade for linux based server and also for gamming.

[lambda]

i don't know about the motherboard, but i'd recommend the pentium d processor. the d has two proper processors, the ht makes one processor core appear as two processors, but the overall performance boost with ht is a lot lower. while the pentium d runs at a lower speed (2.6ghz), it does more work per cycle than the pentium 4. also, the larger cache will help with server workloads.

for similar reasons, you should get centrino processors instead of pentium 4 or pentium 4-m processors for laptops -- larger cache and more work per cycle. the new core duo and core 2 duo processors are based on similar technology to the centrino.

if you can wait a few months, i'd recommend getting the desktop core 2 duo processors. the pentium d is being phased out.

for comparison purposes, games like quake 4 on my 128mb nvidia 6200/sempron 2600+ processor (with an unhappily low amount of 128kb L2 cache) run at 30-50 fps under linux (windowed mode, 1024x768, medium graphics).

unrelated: the cache is why certain processors are better for servers. for example, this server from ibm. 1.9mb L2 cache, and 34mb L3. they have other models with 70+mb L3 cache. i believe some of the hppa processors (from hp, used for hp-ux) had up to 3mb L1 and 64mb L2 cache. the itanium 2 processors have up to 24mb L3.

[mohsan1987]

thanks. actually my budget allows me to buy this processor. dua cor is out of my budget.

[phoenix]

The dual core PEntium D 2.66 is much better choice tha the HT one.

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I have a question...if you have a dual core pentium D, and windows
xp pro 2002. will the two cores be enabled by default or there
has to be a patch installed or SP2 installed.
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once you have pentium D, with lots of ram, and everything looking
good...The ATA hard disk can be a bottle neck.

IMO SATA 2 is the right choice if you really want performance from
your dual core system.

[mohsan1987]

well i decided to upgrade m pentium d 2.6 wid 512mb of ram. and 80 gb satta2 with 8mb of cache.

[mohsan1987]

salam phoenix.
yesterday i instaled xp sp2. in device manager it shows two processors by default and there is no need 2 apply any patch.