Intel has also beefed up the individual processing cores over previous generation Pentium-D processors. Each core now is equipped with 2 MB of on-die L2 cache, opposed to 1 MB of cache per core on the Pentium-D 800series. Since each core has 2 MB of cache to utilize, this effectively means that the Pentium-D 900-series have 4 MB of on-die cache (although 2x2MB is seemingly more accurate), double that of rival AMD's high-end Athlon64 X2 models. Since the chips are fabbed on state of the art 65nm technology, even with 2 MB of cache per die, each of the individual cores are impressively small. Not only does 65nm technology allows cores to be smaller, it also gives Intel more breathing room in terms of clock speed. While the Pentium-D 800's were stuck at 3.2 GHz as their ceiling, the Pentium-D 900's are starting off at 3.4 GHz (3.46 for the EE model), and will likely increase over the next six months as yields on these new chips improve. Let's take a quick look at the chip lineups on paper.

The key word to notice is improvement. Intel's Pentium-D 900 series show improvements in just about every area imaginable compared to older Pentium-D's. They perform quite a bit better in comparison to the Pentium-D 800 series with faster clock speeds and double the amount of L2 cache, while at the same time consuming less power, allowing for quieter running systems. Topping it all off, these chips are cheaper for Intel to produce, leading to overall lower chip prices. They also have Intel's new Virtualization technology thrown in to the mix as well, although no one has had the proper software configurations in order to properly test this feature yet. Frankly, I think this could be the most interesting new feature of this processor, although it will take some time to test properly. At this point, it's still a question mark, but it's something we want to look into for the near future.

On the flip-side, we should note that the new Pentium-D 920/930 models are still quite good values, as their price tags are typically at the same level or lower compared to the cheapest Athlon64 X2 model (the 3800+), and their performance levels are surprisingly good considering their cost. These models are also quite tolerable in terms of heat, and ran close to silent throughout our testing. We certainly wouldn't have a problem recommending these models for a base dual-core system.