In 2006,
Intel announced a plan to return the
Pentium trademark from retirement to the market, as a moniker of low-cost
Core microarchitecture processors based on the single-core Conroe-L but with 1 MB of
cache. The identification numbers for those planned
Pentiums were similar to the numbers of the latter Pentium Dual-Core
microprocessors, but with the first digit "1" instead of "2", suggesting their single-core function. A single-core Conroe-L with 1 MB cache was deemed as not strong enough to distinguish the planned Pentiums from the Celerons, so it was replaced by
dual-core central processing units (CPU), adding "Dual-Core" to the line's name. Throughout 2009, Intel changed the name from Pentium Dual-Core to Pentium in its publications. Some processors were sold under both names, but the newer E5400 through E6800 desktop and SU4100/T4x00 mobile processors were not officially part of the Pentium Dual-Core line.
Yonah The first processors using the brand appeared in notebook computers on January 30, 2007. Those processors, named Pentium T2060, T2080, and T2130, had the 32-bit
Pentium M-derived
Yonah core, and closely resembled the
Core Duo T2050 processor with the exception of having 1 MB of
L2 cache instead of 2 MB. All three of them had a 533 MHz
front-side bus (FSB) connecting the CPU with the
double-data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory (DDR SDRAM). Intel developed the Pentium Dual-Core at the request of laptop manufacturers.
Allendale Subsequently, on June 3, 2007, Intel released the desktop Pentium Dual-Core branded processors known as the Pentium E2140 and E2160. An E2180 model was released later in September 2007. These processors support the
Intel 64 extensions, being based on the newer, 64-bit
Allendale core with
Core microarchitecture. These closely resembled the
Core 2 Duo E4300 processor, with the exception of having 1 MB of
L2 cache instead of 2 MB. These CPUs are highly
overclockable.
Merom-2M The mobile version of the Allendale processor, the Merom-2M, was also introduced in 2007, featuring 1MB of
L2 cache but only 533 MT/s FSB with the T23xx processors. The bus clock was subsequently raised to 667 MT/s with the T3xxx Pentium processors made from the same dies.
Wolfdale-3M The 45 nm E5200 model was released by
Intel on August 31, 2008, with a larger 2MB L2 cache over the 65 nm E21xx series and the 2.5 GHz clock speed. The E5200 model is also a highly
overclockable processor, with many reaching over 3.75 GHz clock speed using just the stock Intel cooler. Intel released the E6500K model using this core. The model features an unlocked multiplier, but was only sold in China.
Penryn-3M The Penryn core is the successor to the Merom core and Intel's 45 nm version of their mobile series of Pentium Dual-Core processors. The FSB is increased from 667 MHz to 800 MHz and the voltage is lowered. Intel released the first Penryn-based Pentium Dual-Core, the T4200, in December 2008. Later, mobile Pentium T4000, SU2000, and SU4000 processors based on
Penryn were marketed as Pentium. ==Rebranding==