For the past couple of months I have been considering building a dual-core system, primarily for gaming. Although dual-core processors have not shown any real benefits over single-core processors in gaming applications, this should change in the near future. As drives and games become better optimized to use the dual-core feature, the huge improvements we are all waiting for should follow. Like any of my gaming computers I overclock them for maximum performance. High antialiasing and anisotropic filtering settings become addictive after a while, using these settings in the latest games can be quite the frame rate killer.

Therefore, when migrating to a dual-core configuration I wanted a processor that would give me the best bang for my buck. The Intel dual-core processors are very affordable with the Pentium 4 D 820 costing just $250 US. The cheapest Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor is the 3800+ which retails for $350. Although the AMD dual-core processors are faster on a level playing field I wanted maximum overclocking power. Unfortunately, unlike Intel who only changes the processors clock frequency from one model to another AMD also alters the L2 Cache. The Athlon64 X2 3800+, 4200+ and 4600+ all feature a total L2 Cache of 1MB. While the 4400+ and 4800+ both feature a total L2 Cache of 2MB.

The entire range of Pentium 4 D processors also uses a 2MB L2 Cache (1MB+1MB). This meant if I wanted to achieve maximum performance from an overclocked AMD Athlon64 X2 processor I would need at least a 4400+ as its the slowest dual-core processor to feature the full 2MB Cache. This meant I would be spending twice as much money on the processor if I went with AMDs Athlon64 X2 4400+. Given the fact that an AMD processor has been the brains behind my last few gaming systems I decided to give the 4400+ a chance. Therefore I have decided to do an Intel Pentium D 820 vs. AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ overclocking article.

At their stock frequencies the AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ is naturally going to be much faster than the Intel Pentium D 820. Despite the Pentium D 820 being clocked 600MHz faster the Athlon64 X2 4400+ utilizes a more efficient design. On the other hand overclocking these two processors may give the Pentium D 820 processor a natural advantage. The Pentium D 820 is easily capable of achieving a clock frequency in excess of 4GHz, once again for this article the processor was tested at 4.2GHz! The AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ managed to reach 2.7GHz, this mere 500MHz overclock went a long way in aiding the X2 4400+s performance.

The question is which Dual-Core 2MB L2 Cache processor gives you the best bang for your buck? Is it the 2.7GHz AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ or is it the 4.2GHz Intel Pentium D 820? Initially there was just 600MHz favoring the Intel processor and it was still slower. Now there is a staggering 1.5GHz favoring the Intel processor, surely this kind of gain has to help Intel get over the line before AMD. Well lets move on and find out...