Although Intel’s new processor has larger L1 and L2 caches and an enhanced set of multimedia instructions (SSE3), the company has resisted the temptation to call the Prescott chip the ‘Pentium 5’. You can identify a Prescott Pentium 4 by the ‘E’ that follows the clock speed -- as in, ‘Pentium 4 Processor with HT Technology 3.40E GHz’. There are four new Pentium 4 processors with the Prescott core (see table below). However, the 3.4GHz version will not be available in large quantities at launch, which is why Intel did not send this variant to testers. A 3.4GHz Pentium 4 with the older Northwood core will also available -- although, again, it’s not currently available for test.
Intel is also releasing another variant of the gaming-orientated Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, a 3.4GHz processor that will cost nearly $1,000. This Northwood-core chip has little relevance to business users, though: for more than the double cost of an equivalent desktop processor, the Extreme Edition delivers only 10 to 15 per cent more performance.
| Intel's new processors | |||
| CPU |
FSB |
HT support |
Price |
| Pentium 4 2.8E GHz (Prescott) | 800MHz |
yes |
$178 |
| Pentium 4 3.0E GHz (Prescott) | 800MHz |
yes |
$218 |
| Pentium 4 3.2E GHz (Prescott) | 800MHz |
yes |
$278 |
| Pentium 4 3.4E GHz (Prescott) | 800MHz |
yes |
$417 |
| Pentium 4 3.4 GHz (Northwood) | 800MHz |
yes |
$417 |
| Pentium 4 EE 3.4 GHz (Northwood) | 800MHz |
yes |
$999 |
Post your comment
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below
By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ
Talkback
When will IT departments realise that Intel processors are overpriced, over-hyped and over heated? Choosing AMD processors will be cheaper up front and cheaper in the long run (less power being used).
Unless the company wants to have a distributed, always on, heating system, there is now no reason to choose Intel over AMD.
Thanks for the great review. It was good to see a test that test each application/game in different configurations to find trends... Great job!
Thanks for the only slightly Intel-biased review (Dual DIMMs give the Intel mobos dual-channel RAM over AMD's single-channel single DIMM). While this doesn't make the Intel CPUs dominate the tests, it does make them look not quite as bad as they really are.
I'll remember to look for more reviews on ZDNet in the future - to make sure that I avoid them.
re. the previous comment:
Athlon 64 features only a single channel memory interface. Therefore it is irrelevant to have two DIMMs installed. The Athlon FX offers a Dual-Channel-Interface. With this processor it is important to have two DIMMs installed to get the best performance out of it, as with P4 systems.
re: Dual-Channel
Sorry Kai, I was thinking about the socket 940 FX.
Also, I shall retract my statement about ZDNet. After further review, some of the benchmarks you performed are different enough from the "standard" that (when balanced with other reviews) helps to paint a better overall performance picture. Thanks.
Well, gotta say, there might be some hope for ZDNet afterall. None of the usual Intel butt-kissing and making excuses for whenever it does worse than its competition.
And I'm impressed by the fact that you're using F1 simulations to do some testing of the hardware. Haven't seen that anywhere else. You must be an F1 fan.