Closer Look: Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.46GHz

The new Intel CPU doesn’t have anything surprising about itself. It is based on the Gallatin core, which you should be very well familiar with and which is used in Pentium 4 XE processor family. It differs from the predecessors by slightly higher working frequency and higher bus frequency. This is also indicated clearly by the diagnostic utilities:

The new Pentium 4 XE 3.46GHz is based on the good old 0.13micron core, which is developed from the already retired Northwood core. In fact, this is the last Intel desktop CPU produced with the old 130nm technological process. As a result, this processor doesn’t boast any new technologies, which have been the talk of the town lately, and which have been successfully implemented in the competitor’s solutions. Here we are first of all talking about 64bit extensions (EM64T), Intel Enhanced SpeedStep technology intended to reduce heat dissipation, and Execute Disable Bit technology, which ensures better operation system protection against harmful software attacks. All these innovations are to appear in Pentium 4 XE only when they move to the new Prescott-II core, which should happen in the beginning of next year.

This way, the only innovation the new Pentium 4 XE 3.46GHz can boast is faster 1066MHz bus, which should somewhat speed up the processor, according to Intel engineers. Note that according to Intel’s current plans, the 1066MHz processor bus will be the prerogative of Pentium 4 XE processors only for the end of this and the entire year 2005. Other Intel’s processor families, such as Pentium 4 5XX, Pentium 4 6XX with 2MB L2 cache and even Pentium 4 7XX with dual-core architecture will support only 800MHz bus all next year. This way, if 2MB L3 cache is to be the distinguishing feature of the 2004 Pentium 4 XE processors, then next year this role will be taken by the fast 1066MHz bus.

Summing up everything I have just said, let me list the formal technical specifications of the new CPU:

• Package: LGA775;
• Clock frequency: 3.46GHz;
• Processor bus: 1066MHz Quad Pumped Bus;
• L1 cache: 8KB for data, 12,000 micro-ops for instructions Trace cache;
• L2 cache: 512KB;
• L3 cache: 2048KB;
• Number of transistors: 178 mln;
• Die size: 237sq.mm;
• SIMD instructions support: SSE, SSE2;
• Nominal voltage: 1.525-1.6V;
• Thermal design power: 110.7W.

Note that the heat dissipation of the new Pentium 4 XE 3.46GHz doesn’t exceed that of the faster Pentium 4 processors based on Prescott core, even despite the relatively outdated 130nm production process they use. It also means that the new Pentium 4 XE 3.46GHz will be able to work in the same LGA775 mainboards as Prescott CPUs. The new CPU requires only one thing from the boards: hardware support of the 1066MHz bus and Gallatin core support in the BIOS.