This article originally appeared on Hardware Central.

The entry-level processor introductions have been coming in waves lately, even stealing some of the spotlight from their high-end CPU cousins. Sure, Intel has just introduced six new Pentium 4 chips with LGA775 packaging, but they played more of a supporting role in the unveiling of the company's 915 and 925 chipset platforms with DDR-2 memory support and PCI Express video. The value market seems to be where the action is, as right on the heels of AMD's Sempron budget-line announcement, Intel has supplanted the old Celeron series with four new Celeron D processors.

The Celeron D Architecture

Just as previous Celerons were cut-down versions of the 0.13-micron-process Pentium 4 "Northwood" design, the Celeron D is a variant of today's 90-nanometer-process Pentium 4 "Prescott" core. As before, the economy model has one-quarter the Level 2 cache of the mainstream chip, though the respective amounts have doubled in the move to 90 nanometers -- 1MB for Prescott and 256K for the Celeron D, with the same 16K of Level 1 for each.

This is an important factor, as the whopping L2 cache and resulting increase in transistor count is one of the reasons that high core heat is such an issue with the Prescott CPU. With 256K of L2 cache, the Celeron D should run considerably cooler.

The Celeron D boasts a faster front-side bus than its predecessor -- 533MHz instead of 400MHz -- but still trails the 800MHz bus of the Pentium 4. This not only limits overall bandwidth on Celeron D systems, but also ensures these chips won't find their way into high-end configurations. For example, Intel's 875P chipset's Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) feature only works when used with an 800MHz-bus processor, while the new 925X Express chipset doesn't support a 533MHz front-side bus at all.

Intel's 875 and 865 chipsets also default to 320MHz DDR speeds when used with a 533MHz-bus CPU. For another illustration of Intel's deliberate lower-price, lower-performance positioning of its budget chip, the Celeron D supports up-to-date SSE3 multimedia instructions, but lacks the Hyper-Threading Technology of current Pentium 4s.

The Dual-Platform Strategy

Intel has made one very smart decision: It isn't forcing buyers to go the LGA775 route when buying a new Celeron D system. The Celeron D 330 (2.66GHz) and 325 (2.53GHz) models are being released only for Socket 478, while the higher-end Celeron 335 (2.8GHz) will be offered in both Socket 478 and LGA775 formats. Intel obviously recognizes that although the new 915G/P Express chipsets do support standard DDR as well as DDR-2 memory, their inherent platform costs will be higher. Until LGA775 moves into the mainstream, it makes sense to use the inexpensive 865G and 865PE as the entry-level platforms of choice.

Of course, Intel wants to make LGA775 the de facto standard over the long term, so giving buyers the choice of jumping on now with a Celeron 335 is also a good decision. This not only gives a "one platform fits all" edge to system vendors, but gives budget-strapped enthusiasts a method of buying into LGA775 today and potentially upgrading to a Pentium 4 500-series CPU when the latter's prices come down a bit. Intel has a long history of forcing platform change without overriding reason, but at least in the case of the Celeron D, the company is allowing the end user to make the final call.

The Poster Boy for Processor Numbering

When Intel announced its intention of adopting processor numbers instead of simply listing clock speeds, it raised more than a few eyebrows. After all, why would the chipmaker simply toss aside the obvious marketing advantage of more megahertz by essentially joining the AMD camp and letting its main competitor off the hook? We've written before about how AMD seems to have taken the market leadership position in many ways, with Intel just following right along, and this decision seems only to confirm that.

We got a peek at Intel's potential rationale for its model-number strategy with the LGA775 release, where similar-speed Pentium 4 chips appeared as part of a more powerful and feature-rich platform. The new Celeron D models follow the Pentium 4 LGA775 and Pentium M "Dothan" processors by adopting processor numbering, with the announced models including the Celeron D 335 (2.8GHz), 330 (2.66GHz), and 325 (2.53GHz).

This sheds even more light on the reasons behind the move, as the 2.8GHz core speed of the top-of-the-line Celeron D 335 doesn't exceed that of the previous Celeron/2.8 model. Obviously clock speeds will climb with later variants, but using Intel's old "core speed is king" strategy would likely cause a great deal of confusion among potential buyers. Now system vendors can properly market the new Celeron 335 as a next-generation chip -- with double the cache of the old Celeron; a newer, more powerful core; and the all-important, or at least nice for advertising, SSE3 multimedia extras. And Intel can promote the enhancements of its new processors without causing a run on its older, cheaper Celeron/2.8 chips.

Don't Bring a Sempron to a Gun Fight

The Celeron D may not be all that we'd hoped, but it does represent a significant improvement over previous Celerons, and Intel should be keeping prices of the Socket 478 models under $100. Sure, a Celeron running on the 800MHz front-side bus with Hyper-Threading support would be a dream for entry-level desktop shoppers, but Intel does need to differentiate its lines or risk siphoning off Pentium 4 sales.