The Intel Pentium D 820….. Dual Core for the masses

Overclocking

Overclocking

Overclocking with the Pentium D 820 was a simple process, and I ended up with some pretty decent results. First, users need to realize that the Pentium D 820 is actually a pair of Prescott cores, so heat will end up being a large factor in any overclock. Using a Prometeia Mach II, I had no problem hitting 3.5GHz (250FSB) with rock solid stability. I then revved up my system to 3.80 GHz, again, fully stable, only when I shut down the system, the temps jumped to 50C within a matter of seconds. At 3.80 GHz, the Pentium D 820 showed some great benchmarking scores, beating the four threaded Intel 840 EE in every test.

If you plan on using the Pentium D 820 for any type of overclocking, I’d strongly recommend using at the very least a decent water cooling kit.

With a decent cooling solution the Pentium D 820 is a very good overclocker, 1GHz is definitely nothing to sneeze at with any processor. The 820’s overclocking results show that it easily has the ability to keep up with its more expensive peers, and should be on the short list of enthusiast CPU’s.