Semiconductor manufacturer Intel Corp. released the Intel Pentium D in 2005 as a desktop processor complementing its then-flagship Pentium 4 brand. A year later, Core Duo came out as a laptop (or mobile) chip and among the first entries of Core, which would soon supplant the Pentium. Understandably, there are several notable differences between the Pentium D and Core Duo central processing units.
Core and Manufacture
Although the Pentium D and Core Duo are dual-core processors ---- meaning that they each have two cores, or processing units --- the former's cores are placed on two dies, while the latter's cores are placed on one die. Intel used the 65 nanometer lithographic node of semiconductor fabrication for all Core Duo chips. While the Pentium D chips use 65 nm as well, this refers to the post-2006 ones; the older ones use the 90nm instead. These factors contribute to the Pentium D chips being bigger than the Core Duo ones.
Speeds
The Intel Pentium D has a clock (or processing speed) range of 2.66GHz to 3.73GHz. This surpasses that of the Core Duo, which has a clock speed range of 1.06GHz to 2.33GHz. The Pentium D also has the upper hand in front-side bus speed, which is the rate at which the CPU connects with the motherboard for data transmission via the front-side bus interface. It offers three FSB choices of 533MHz, 800MHz and 1,066MHz, as opposed to the Core Duo, which only provides 533MHz and 667MHz.
Cache and Power
Each Pentium D and Core Duo has two caches, which are tiny storage units that the processor uses for high-speed access to data from the computer. While each Core Duo has a 2-MB Level 2 cache, which is the secondary memory bank, the Pentium D offers 2MB and 4MB choices. The Core Duo, however, is more energy efficient with a maximum power consumption range of 9 to 31 watts; the Pentium's range is 95 to 130W.
Technologies
The Intel Pentium D is a 64-bit processor, while the Intel Core Duo is a 32-bit processor. Thus, the Pentium D can handle data sizes twice the size of the Core Duo. However, the majority of Core Duo CPUs -- 10 out of 15 -- have Intel Virtualization Technology, which consolidate several computing environments in one single PC. By contrast, a little less than half of the Pentium D --- 7 out of 17 --- have the aforementioned feature.
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