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More Dual Core goodness.

Intel and AMD are both betting that everyone will transition to multiple cores very quickly, and as shown by recent moves in the notebook industry and the continued release and price drops of multi core CPUs, the shift to multiple cores is no longer in any doubt. So now, we are looking at another transition with this review - moving from a 90nm geometry dual core processor to a 65nm dual core processor.

Why is 65nm important?

• 65nm allows more cores per wafer, reducing production costs
• 65nm runs cooler; the smaller transistors consume less power
• smaller transistors that generate less heat can theoretically run faster

The D 930 is a 65nm "Presler" dual core processor in Intel's 9x0 line; slated to eventually replace the 8x0 line of Smithfield core processors. The 930 has two separate cores on two separate 'dies' that are linked within the same BGA package. This further reduces production costs because if the two cores were on the same die, a defect in one of the processors would mean the whole die (with two cores) would have to be discarded, lowering the yield per wafer. The disadvantage of using two separate dies is the need for interconnection, and slightly degraded electrical performance of the interconnection versus one die. I think we've shown enough times in the past how this degrades performance of Intel's Dual Core architecture versus the AMD Dual Core setup.

We obtained an off the shelf D 930 retail pack from a large retailer and decided to put it through its paces.

The D 930 has the following specifications:

• 800 MHz FSB
• 2x 3.0GHz cores
• Intel VT virtualization technology
• 2 MB L2 cache per core
• 16 KB of L1 cache
• EM64T support
• Execute Disable Bit support
• Enhanced Speedstep
• B0 core stepping
• LGA 775 packaging
• 65 nm geometry
• 1.20V-1.335V core voltage (Absolute Max rating of 1.55V)
• 95W thermal design power (130W for 955EE) 62'C @ 95W, 68.6'C @ 130W

Since I intended to examine how well this processor could perform, the overclocked results are fully integrated into the whole article. Every chart you see will have not only stock but also our max stable overclocked results. I ran our whole processor benchmark suite at two maximal overclocked settings, so you can get a good idea of the across-the-board maximum perfomrance obtainable by this processor. Keep in mind when reading the results that we are using a retail off the shelf chip, and we did not have to resort to exotic cooling or specialized hardware aside from high quality components to achieve our overclocks, so any of you considering this chip will likely be able to achieve something close to what we get.

Before we get deep down into the results, let me put the numbers into perspective by providing you with current pricing for processors from a local retailer: