X-bit labs

Intel Pentium 4 6XX and Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz CPU Review (page 3)

Category: CPU

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 02/20/2005 | 12:05 AM ]

So, there is still room for the new faster CPUs to come out within this product family. In Q2 2005 Intel is going to announce Pentium 4 670 working at 3.8GHz.

However, the question about the “fastest CPU” title is so far not in favor of Pentium 4 660, and not in favor of Pentium 4 570. There is one more CPU based on Prescott 2M core, which has just been announced today and which belongs to the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition family. This newcomer works at 3.73GHz clock rate and is intended to support 1066MHz bus frequency. Note that even though the new Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz boasts most of the features present in the new Pentium 4 6XX processors, it doesn’t support EIST technology. The other two technologies, XD bit and EM64T, are fully supported.

And here is the info we get from the CPU-Z diagnostic utility about the new Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz and Pentium 4 660 processors:

Intel Pentium 4 660

Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz

Summing up, I would like to offer you a table with all the formal characteristics of the newly announced Pentium 4 6XX and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz processors. For a more illustrative comparison we are also offering you the specs for the Pentium 4 5XX side-by-side with those of the newcomers:

As for the thermal characteristics of the new processors, I should say that their heat dissipation lies within the same range as that of the Pentium 4 5XX CPU family. It means that Pentium 4 6XX working at up to 3.4GHz frequencies fit into the 84W TDP, while the top models including the new Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz feature 115W TDP.

This way the new CPUs can be freely used in the same mainboards as the previous generation of Pentium 4 LGA775 processors. The only requirement is the support of the new CPUs in the mainboard BIOS.

So, please meet the newcomers:

Pentium 4 570, Pentium 4 660, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73 GHz