Intel's second generation of dual core processors is much better than its first. The 65 nanometer Presler core is still quite an energy hog, but it doesn't produce as much heat and thanks to the larger L2 cache, is clock for clock faster than the Intel Pentium D 800 series processors.

The massive Presler core contains an impressive 376 million transistors and runs off an 800 MHz Front Side Bus. The Intel Pentium D 940 processor that PCSTATS tested in this review contains all the usual features; EMT64 technology, NX bit, Hardware Virtualization and Intel's EIST. The retail processor also comes with a nice quiet heatsink.

As you've seen from the 32-bit and 64-bit benchmark sets, the performance of the Intel Pentium D 940 processor was good, but not top of the line. It is faster than the Pentium D 840 model in most situations. If given a choice, gamers definitely should go for a 900-series Pentium D, the extra L2 cache can make quite a difference! The Intel Pentium D 940 is not able to match AMD's best dual core Athlon64 chipset in terms of performance, but then again this processor only retails for $245 CDN ($215 USD, £116 GBP) which is about a quarter what the AMD Athlon64 FX-62 currently sells for.

With the heat related issues under control, the Intel Pentium D 940 was a decent overclocker as well. The processor was bought locally so it should give users an idea at what to shoot for. This was all done with regular air cooling, just imagine the possibilities with water or phase change cooling, 5 GHz?

The Intel Pentium D 940 is the ideal processor for a Socket 775 user who's looking to upgrade. The 2MB L2 cache gives it a performance boost over the Pentium D 800-series, and the smaller 65nm manufacturing process means less noise and heat to deal with. If you're looking to assemble a completely new system, you might want to sidestep the Intel Pentium D 940 chip completely and get yourself a next generation 'Conroe' based Intel Core2 Duo E6000-series processor instead (it's a 1066MHz FSB bus, so your motherboard will need to support it). In any case, the Intel Pentium D 940 is a step in the right direction for Intel.

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