Performance - 3.73 Extreme Edition

The following numbers are based off Intel's lab results and not our own. When we can secure some test CPUs, we'll run them through our usual suite.

Test Platform:

Intel 925XE CV2: 3.73 EE (1066FSB), Corsair TWIN2X-5400C4 (3-3-3-8), ATI X800 XT Platinum, Seagate ST3160023AS, Windows XP SP2

The comparison CPU is Intel's 3.46 EE running on the same platform.

One thing that is obvious is we're not going to see a revolution in performance with the current crop of Extreme Edition processors. The average gain is between 5% to 7% with a couple in the 19% range which can be attributed to the increase in frequency and cache rather than anything in the architecture. I suppose if we put a positive spin on things, if the 3.73 was outperformed by the 3.46, we'd have some real problems.

Thermals

While the EIST is going to help in terms of power consumption and heat, keep in mind that the Extreme Edition will not carry EIST, nor will EIST help when the processor is under load.

Processor	Thermal Design Power (W)	Max °C
Pentium 4 XE 3.73GHz	115	70.8
Pentium 4 660	115	70.8
Pentium 4 650	84	66.6
Pentium 4 640	84	66.6
Pentium 4 630	84	66.6

All CPUs will have a minimum operating temperature of 5°C. As we can see, temperatures have not really changed at all since the 5xx series and although air cooling will suffice for stock speeds and perhaps some minor overclocking, you're best to arm yourself with something beefier for more serious overclocks.

Final Words

Given that no new chipsets are being released today, items such as DDR2, Matrix RAID, HD Audio and PCI Express will remain unchanged. The big story here will be the 6xx's new EM64T, EIST and XD Bit which have been absent on their desktop CPUs until now.

EM64T will probably grab the most press today as it's been a long time coming for Intel. With Windows x64 almost ready to go, those who favor the Intel camp will now have access to a 64-Bit processor. Still, we're not going to get too overly excited about this (and this applies to AMD as well) as a few of our readers have been less than impressed with the latest from Microsoft.

EIST is a tricky topic because Intel has needed better thermal management ever since the release of the Prescott. It's one thing to run cooler while idling or being under light load, but it still does not really address the fact that the Prescott scorches under full load. Enthusiasts looking to move back to air cooling may want to wait a while and stick with the water/phase cooled setups they have gotten to know well.

XD Bit, like EIST, will appeal to those who manage corporate networks. Worms and malware in general has really gotten out of control over the last few years, and now Intel has implemented a hardware/software feature across an entire CPU line to deal with this.

While we give Intel a lot of credit for the new features, at the same time we're left thinking is that it? While we've pointed the new features are a long time coming and completely new... they are completely new for Intel only. AMD owners have been sitting on similar technologies for almost two years now. While the names differ, for all intents and purposes they do the same thing. Basically, Intel hasn't brought anything new to the table for computing in general. Considering this is the second consecutive Sunday launch from Intel, we're guessing many reviewers will have the same sentiments as us.

Since the chipset platform itself has not changed, and as of this writing, your 64-bit OS options are limited, owners of the 5xx series of processors are better off passing on the 6xx series. As of today, there will be no immediate benefit performance-wise outside of the clock speed changes. The extra cache should give a boost, but we don't feel it warrants an upgrade unless you're still sitting on a sub-2.8GHz Intel CPU. Speaking of which, we understand the clock speed game is no longer one that Intel wishes to play, but we had hoped to see something in the 4GHz range today, and that simply is not happening.

That being said, Intel has put together the building blocks for their next crop of processors and chipsets as they bumped up the features to meet some of the standards the enthusiasts and corporate users have been clamoring for. EIST and XD Bit will be very popular within the IT community, and EM64T will at least give Intel users an option should they want to jump to 64-bit computing. However, if you've already invested in a LGA775 5xx processor, you might want to hold on to what you have and see how Intel dual core CPUs will fare when they are released.

If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.

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