Closer Look: Pentium Extreme Edition 965

Since the higher clock frequency is basically the major innovation in the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 processors compared with the predecessors, we would like to list all the technical specs right away:

Just like the Pentium Extreme Edition 955, the newcomer requires the FSB frequency to be set at 266MHz. On the one hand it means that the nominal frequency multiplier of the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 equals 14x, but on the other it indicates that this processor sets the same requirements for the mainboards as the predecessor. As a result, the processor is guaranteed to be fully compatible only with the i975X based platforms. At the same time, there are quite a few mainboards in the market based on the earlier chipsets, such as i955/i945, that can unofficially support Pentium Extreme Edition 965.

Note that besides higher bus frequency, Pentium Extreme Edition 965 boasts one more very important feature that distinguishes it from the Pentium D CPUs. Namely, it supports Hyper-Threading technology. So, since Pentium Extreme Edition 965 is a dual-core processor, the system will see it as four logical CPUs.

Since this solution is based on C1 core stepping and supports Enhanced HALT State Technology, it can drop the working clock speed down if the processor is idle. The minimum clock frequency multiplier for Presler core is 12x, so the frequency of Pentium Extreme Edition 965 can drop down to 3.2GHz. Since Pentium Extreme Edition is targeted for computer enthusiasts, Intel decided not to activate Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology in it. However, this is only true for this particular model, and other Presler processors on C1 core stepping will support Demand Based Switching technologies set.

The current version of the diagnostic CPU-Z utility doesn’t yet know the Presler CPUs on C1 core stepping well enough.

Although this tool doesn’t recognize the new core stepping, you can still get it from the CPUID parameter that used to be F62 by the previous B1 cores stepping.

Note that the Pentium Extreme Edition engineering sample we had at our disposal had an unlocked clock frequency multiplier. This shouldn’t surprise you, as all other processors from this extreme family boast the same feature.