Sen's Pentium D 920 Review

[Sentential]

By popular demand Ive split my posts into a new thread. My intent as always with reviews is not to show off how 'cool' this chip is or isnt. This is to show the average joe what you can expect if you buy a chip right off the shelf.

As always overclocking will never be done on exotic cooling. No suicide shots, no box fans. This is being tested in an 30C (80F) room in a closed enviroment on a 24/7 box that I use for work as well as games

Here's my chip info:

Purchased from: Mwave.com

PROD CODE: BX80553920SL94S
MM#: 878915
FPO/BATCH: L541B380
Version #: 042731-001 1.3v MAX
Pack Date: 12/22/05

Testing box:

OCZ 520W Powerstream (33A 12v+)
Pentium D 920 (Cooled with an XP120)
Asus P5WD2 Premium @ BIOS 0606
Mushkin PC6400 (2GB)
ATi X800PRO (w/t Zalman VF700)

Picture of the testing box:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/cropped.jpg

Pictures of the packaging and included items:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/DSC00040.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/DSC00041.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/DSC00042.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/DSC00043.jpg

Intel 920 side by side my AthlonXP 1800+

[Sentential]

Cooling XP120 w/t High Speed TFB Delta Fan

1.3v @ 2800mhz / 42-43C Load Temp (default)
1.3v @~3900mhz / 45-46C Load Temp (max for default vcore)
1.3v @ 4000mhz / 47-49C Load Temp (boots but crashes)

1.41v @ 4200mhz / 62-64C Load Temp (suicide max limited by heat)

1.37v @ ~4100mhz / 63-67C Load Temp (maximum stable freq) *subject to change

***Forced to reduce voltage again***
1.33v @ 4014 / 54-58C

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/maxpresler.jpg

Max Default Voltage: 1.3v
Max voltage for air cooling: 1.32-1.38v

[Sentential]

Sisandra Artithmetic CPU Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/cpusynth.jpg

Sisandra RAM Bandwith

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/rambandwith.jpg

SuperPI

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/presspi.jpg

[Sentential]

So far no significant changes from what I usually expect out of my 640. In addition the heat load at the voltage I am using now is rougly the same as well.

So far so good no installation issues or driver conflicts to speak of. One thing that I have noticed is that this chip feels like a different version than what most people who have the 955s. Its far more responsive to voltage and the temps as a whole are *significantally* higher especially as voltage is applied.

I really do not have any idea how anyone could at or over 1.4v on these chips. Especially on stock or any form of air cooling.

This I find to be somewhat ironic because the stock cooler on this chip is about the size of the one for my Celly D except it has a copper core. At the very least its smaller than the one packaged with my 640.

All in all its a very boreing chip, in a good way. Its plug-in-play without any sort of major issues. Thermals are as expected, clocks are as expected. Nothing really to complain or be excited about.

If you want dual core this would be the one to buy. Perhaps latter versions will scale better but at this moment 920s are where its at.

That being said I have some misgivings about the dual core craze. With all honesty there is no difference between a true dual core and HT. If benches are what you want Presler is not for you. Instead buy Cedar mill if that is your goal.

Also just a warning to perspective buyers, check your IHS and make sure its flat, mine as you can clearly tell is not:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Sentential/DSC00044.jpg

[hUMANbEATbOX]

hey, i call those pretty good results. i don't think that 820's could do 4200mhz on air (here's to hoping you can stabalize at those speeds).

i think its safe to say so far that 920's are the chip to get, unless you got some extra $$ and the cooling to handle a 940.

[Sentential]

hey, i call those pretty good results. i don't think that 820's could do 4200mhz on air (here's to hoping you can stabalize at those speeds).

i think its safe to say so far that 920's are the chip to get, unless you got some extra $$ and the cooling to handle a 940.
Nah, most of the 820s couldnt even do 3.8

[Sentential]

Updated with pictures

[Vrykyl]

looking cracking sen mate :) burn her in sen style and see how high she'l go under 1.4v!! iv got a 920 coming now too as you know - should be with me next week with luck :)

[Sentential]

looking cracking sen mate :) burn her in sen style and see how high she'l go under 1.4v!! iv got a 920 coming now too as you know - should be with me next week with luck :)
Ya im doing that now. Not sure whether I should be miffed or what. This chip is just idk dull. I dont even notice it versus my 640.

[bazx]

sen as this is 2x core can you test its ablity to perform two
benchmarks @ the same time

baz

[Sentential]

sen as this is 2x core can you test its ablity to perform two
benchmarks @ the same time

baz
That is generally tought to do since you would need duplicates of each benchmark. Often you cannot do that without massive work in the registery (which I dont feel like doing lol)

[Vrykyl]

dual superpi? cant you just have two pi folders and run each exe without tweaking around?
hope your not gonna get dissapointed on us now sen...its gotta be better than your 6xx even if you dont notice simply because theres 2 core... ;) cheers up mate!

[Sentential]

dual superpi? cant you just have two pi folders and run each exe without tweaking around?
hope your not gonna get dissapointed on us now sen...its gotta be better than your 6xx even if you dont notice simply because theres 2 core... ;) cheers up mate!
Im not dissapointed at all, Im very happy with it as a whole its just that interesting of a chip. Mediocre would describe it best. That or Xeon because its about as steady as a server chip, but certinaly not a hotrod.

[Vrykyl]

maybe itl pick up more if your burn in's succesful? higher clocks can never be a bad thing... what did your 6xx clock to?

[crotale]

This I find to be somewhat ironic because the stock cooler on this chip is about the size of the one for my Celly D except it has a copper core. At the very least its smaller than the one packaged with my 640.

Interesting.
Here's a picture of the cooler I got with the 955XE (to the right):

http://www.nordichardware.se/skrivelser_img/390/oc2.jpg

This one has a larger core than other P4-HSs I've seen.

[Sentential]

Interesting.
Here's a picture of the cooler I got with the 955XE (to the right):

http://www.nordichardware.se/skrivelser_img/390/oc2.jpg

This one has a larger core than other P4-HSs I've seen.
As you can tell from the pictures I provided the one I received in my boxed pakage is slightly smaller than the one on the left.

The copper core is the same aprox size but the height of the fins has been decreased to that of the celly d sinks

[TechtonicPC]

I have not been impressed by these 9xx series thus far, but your chip shows some deffinate promise Sen. Air Cooling, Reasonable VCore, and Decent temps on the cheapest of the bunch.

Still not enough for me to plunge into another dual core, but nice indeed. (My 830 went to Ebay!)

Batboy's is running nicely also, but it nice to see this 820 do so well, and on air cooling to boot.

Now, where o where o where is Cedar Mill!! :cool: (yea too much Blue House :rolleyes: )

[Vrykyl]

surfrat, you can delete your excess posts btw ;) theres an option for it under edit!

Sen, that stock cooler looks more than just a little bit rubbish...folks had better upgrade from stock sink if they wanna keep these under control!!

[Ross]

That being said I have some misgivings about the dual core craze. With all honesty there is no difference between a true dual core and HT. If benches are what you want Presler is not for you. Instead buy Cedar mill if that is your goal.Eh, I dunno about that. Both Ranger's and mine have beat every one of our best 6x0 bench scores in everything...PC or 3D (except for SPi) at much, much lower FSB. How much of that can be attributed to the extra cache, I don't know, but clocking a 6x0 to match a clock of one of these and benching both, I don't think they'd even be in the same ballpark.

I was never a dual core fan, but I've taken my first step towards on the Presler. If I didn't need to wait like months to find a Yonah desktop mobo, I might give one of them a go, but I think it's just going to end up a CM.

[bazx]

That is generally tought to do since you would need duplicates of each benchmark. Often you cannot do that without massive work in the registery (which I dont feel like doing lol)

run a 3d or sumit and a 1m at the same time i would like to see if the 1m slows down alot

if at all

chin up dude

[Gautam]

Nice work bro, looks like your theory was more or less correct. :D

But do me a favor and pleasure delete that SSE3 enhanced cheat version of SuperPi off your hard drive. :p

[Sentential]

run a 3d or sumit and a 1m at the same time i would like to see if the 1m slows down alot

if at all

chin up dude
Lol... I dont understand why everyone thinks Im mad at the chip. I mean *USUALLY* I am but I cant really complain about how easy this thing has been to me.

Mainly it comes out of laziness for the benches combinded with the lack of sleep from 2 days since I semi stayed up all night 2x

[S_Wilson]

But do me a favor and pleasure delete that SSE3 enhanced cheat version of SuperPi off your hard drive. :p

Which version is that?

[S_Wilson]

Nice work Sen, Have you done any dual priming yet?

[Sentential]

Nice work Sen, Have you done any dual priming yet?
Yes I have but the thermals are always tricky to deal with. While stable at 4.1 the temps are too dicey for my tastes. I decided to back it off from 4.1 @ 1.36 to 4.0 @ 1.33

[Vrykyl]

sounds like a good call atm sen - see if over time it gets more inclined to OC with less juice ;)

[hyperasus]

So far these 920's don't seem to oc much better then the 820's. Batboys 940 looks like a different story though. Glad to see your your chip is worthwhile sen.

[Sentential]

The contact on this IHS is one of the worst I have ever seen. Just to be sure I put the stock cooler on and im getting TM1 mode. This chip is going back.

<Calls Intel>

[fAlCoNNiAn]

i was just about to ask you how you were planning on fixing the surface of the IHS.

[xTrEmEoVrClOcKr]

Your SPi mb is impressive @ that frequency .. wow. 27 seconds @ 4100mhz, not bad at all! I couldn't even do that @ 4612mhz on my 650, good job bro. Keep the benchies / results coming!

[Ross]

SPi hasn't been the dual cores best bench, but these are looking pretty darn good comapred to Smithfields...that extra cache seems to be making a good impact across the board. I am still gawking at crotale's 19s.

Yeah, Sen, get the SPi 1.4 mod (http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/). It makes a even playing field and shows out to the thousandth of a second. Best I saw on 1.4 was 28.8xx, but I don't remember where the mem and FSB were at on it :)

[Npvk_x]

why dont he use the superPi mod1.4 with validation and ms?
seems to be a "standard"...cant compare different revs of the prog!

SPi hasn't been the dual cores best bench, but these are looking pretty darn good comapred to Smithfields...that extra cache seems to be making a good impact across the board. I am still gawking at crotale's 19s.

Yeah, Sen, get the SPi 1.4 mod (http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/). It makes a even playing field and shows out to the thousandth of a second. Best I saw on 1.4 was 28.8xx, but I don't remember where the mem and FSB were at on it :)
This one?

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4215109&postcount=69

I got 28,48 @ 4614mhz 271fsb 1:1 i think it was...

[Ross]

Yeah, that's the link to it I gave in the post above yours. 28.4 is a nice score for a 2 core on pretty low FSB. Preslers seem to do much better in SPi than Smithfields. I want something that will beat my 670 though...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/boostedevo/670/670-23734-spi.gif

[RangerXLT8]

The contact on this IHS is one of the worst I have ever seen. Just to be sure I put the stock cooler on and im getting TM1 mode. This chip is going back.

<Calls Intel>

What did Intel say? Are they going to RMA it?

[d94]

What did Intel say? Are they going to RMA it?
sen told me they said yes :)

[Sentential]

What did Intel say? Are they going to RMA it?
Ya they said they would take a look at it and I am going to go that route. Its a shame but I dont have any other choice when it keeps throtteling like this even @ stock volts.

[RangerXLT8]

Ya they said they would take a look at it and I am going to go that route. Its a shame but I dont have any other choice when it keeps throtteling like this even @ stock volts.

Does Throttlewatch work with the 920? I know it doesn't work on 6x0

[S_Wilson]

Does Throttlewatch work with the 920? I know it doesn't work on 6x0

Seemed to work OK for me.

[MikeyLikesItSI]

The contact on this IHS is one of the worst I have ever seen. Just to be sure I put the stock cooler on and im getting TM1 mode. This chip is going back.

<Calls Intel>



Sen i agree, i lifted my water block again today and found the most horrid impression. The block is only touching on 2 opposing sides, not in th middle and not on the 2 adjacent sides.

I probably shouldn't have, but i decided to lap it LOL which yielded a 6C drop.

[Sentential]

Does Throttlewatch work with the 920? I know it doesn't work on 6x0
The newest version does