Intel Pentium D VT capable 9xx - Presler 65nm - Now shipping

[RoundSparrow]

Hi,

The original posting here was rumor of December 27...

I just got shipping confirmation from Onsale.com on January 6 and the chip is now here... so only a week late... not bad considering the holidays.

Already have our system ready to go with Xen Linus ready to compile.

Thanks to all who helped track down the ship dates.

 

[Zoron]

I need one of these CPU's as they are the only desktop CPU's that support Virtual Technology (VT) in hardware.

Without knowing exactly what VT you're referring to I can't be absolutely sure; but I believe you've been woefully misinformed. I really can't see an AMD processor not being capable of something an Intel could do.

 

[fishmahn]

Don't know the status of the products he's looking for but both AMD and Intel are coming out with hardware-based VT to make it possible to run multiple OSs on 1 system at the same time (not multi-boot, but having Mandrake in 1 window, XP Pro in a second, XP64 in a 3rd, etc. (or even on a different monitor).

IIRC AMD's VT is coming with the chips being released with M2. Intel's is coming out about now.

Mike.

 

[RoundSparrow]

Without knowing exactly what VT you're referring to I can't be absolutely sure; but I believe you've been woefully misinformed. I really can't see an AMD processor not being capable of something an Intel could do.

You are the misinformed one... Intel is months ahead of AMD on shipping VT. The Xeon Paxville supports this... intel basically silently started shipping it without much fanfare. They have been shipping months ahead of AMD, read the date on this story.

It is coming to ALL desktop and server CPU's from both Intel and AMD...

Most people don't care about it, I do.

 

[ltcommander_data]

Intel is going to be about 6 months ahead of AMD on VT as AMD won't have it until Socket M2 comes out late April. It generally isn't significant though as its use is mainly in the corporate world for streamlining purposes.

In any case, all Preslers will support VT not just the EE. The entire Presler family will launch on December 27 likely along with the Cedar Mills. If you want the latest and greatest from Intel then you should definitely wait for the 955EE. With the 3.46GHz Dempsey performing similar or better than the AMD 280 its likely the 955EE will be extremely competitive with the X2 4800+. The doubled cache and especially the 1066MHz FSB are a real benefit since the 840EE was extremely bandwidth starved. The 955EE looks to clock nicely too.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28412

They ran it at 4.26GHz although they didn't boot into windows yet. However, a clock of 3.73GHz should be easily reached with a decent fan and is a good value considering a single 3.73GHz EE costs $999 now which is the same price as the dual core. Sadly, the option of a 1333MHz FSB won't likely be available on a retail i975X as the one The Inquirer has is a validation board.

Still the memory optimizations of the i975X make it worthwhile and it supports Crossfire too. ATI graphics is a good choice if you do encoding as the new x1xxx series supports hardware encoding acceleration with the new 5.13 driver to be released December 22.

If you are getting the i975X and the 955EE make sure you get some Corsair TWIN2X1024-8000UL. The i975X supports a memory speed of 889MHz and that Corsair can easily run at that speed with latencies of 4-4-4-12 or lower. That way you'll squeeze as much performance as possible out of it. Sadly the Corsair TWIN2X1024-8000UL is just short of 1066MHz. You could get 1044MHz and maybe a bit more with better cooling, but it isn't worth the effort.

 

[ltcommander_data]

The 950 would be able to clock higher since it doesn't have HTT.

That recent Anandtech overclock used a Thermaltake Big Typhoon to get to those higher speeds. Previously Anandtech reached 4.25GHz on the 950 using the stock Intel HSF which is pretty 25% overclock.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2578&p=3

 

[RoundSparrow]

http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/12/16/pentiumd_900/

mentions PCMall & OnSale.com

Great! I didn't realize the entire 9xx series was coming out, I had only found references to the 955 on December 27.

I ordered a 930 from OnSale.com - hopefully it ships out next week.

Thanks for the lead.

 

[ltcommander_data]

The 955EE was supposed to launch on January 15 originally, then AMD announced the FX-60 will launch January 10. While the 955EE may compete well with the X2 4800+, the FX-60 will undoubtedly be faster, so Intel moved the 955EE ahead to December 27 so that it could claim the fastest title for at least 2 weeks. The rest of Presler and Ceder Mill were scheduled for January 1 along with Yonah, but now Presler has moved up with the 955EE. Cedar Mill likely followed. The idea is that the last of the Pentium 4 desktop chips are released by this year so that next year is a clean start with Yonah. I believe Yonah will now launch January 6, and companies like Dell, Apple, and NEC already have notebooks ready for a hard launch. And of course Intel is releasing a 3.33GHz Celeron D on Christmas Day which is interesting although its such a small item it doesn't really matter if all the reporters are on holiday.

I have no idea when the 65nm Celerons launch though. Seems somebody managed to overclock one to 5GHz and its just as fast as a FX-53 overclocked to 3GHz.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28267

 

[RoundSparrow]

And of course Intel is releasing a 3.33GHz Celeron D on Christmas Day which is interesting although its such a small item it doesn't really matter if all the reporters are on holiday.

Is that the Celeron D 356?

Where did you find the December 25 date?

 

[RoundSparrow]

New problem... it seems the 9xx Pentium D's only support the i975X chipset motherboards.

Any suggestions on who will ship one first and where to order?

 

[Zoron]

Hmmmm... learn something new everyday. It's just hard for me to believe that AMD is actually lagging behind Intel on a feature in their CPUs. I admit that I really didn't know what VT referred to, and a quick Google just talked about software products such as simulators.

I was wrong... happened before and it will happen again... just a bit surprised, is all.

 

[RoundSparrow]

thanks Paul for the great information.

I decided to go with the Abit AW8-MAX, the latest BIOS 15 shows support for the new chips and they go to 1066. Of course I'd like the newer chipset, but chicken and egg here - my goal is to get a VT capable CPU in my hands right away.

BTW, of all places, Amazon.com seemed to have the best price on the AW8-MAX. Go figure.

P.S. Wow, I see newegg has a much better deal on the Asus... looking now. However, I don't see that Asus has released their BIOS yet... so this would be risky.

 

[ltcommander_data]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27756

The 3.33Ghz Celeron D launching on December 25 is mentioned briefly on the bottom. That date has been set for months and since its merely a clock ramp on a low-end product, Intel haven't had reason to delay or move that date forward. All Celeron Ds should be dropping in price $10 USD to make room for it.

Presler is supported on all 945 and 955 series motherboards as well as the 975. Only the 955EE is limited to the 975. There were some initial problems with the 920 and the 930 being compatible with the older motherboards but since I haven't heard anything else and Intel seems to be all systems go, the problem appears to have been solved. A BIOS update will of course be required though.

 

[RoundSparrow]

December 25 to everyone Celeron D out ?

 

[ltcommander_data]

Merry Christmas to those that celebrate. (Have to be politically correct now). In any case, none of the tech news sites have reported the 3.33GHz Celeron D launch, but that's just due to the fact that they're all on Christmas break and a Celeron D launch is hardly important enough to come into the office for.

BTW, I noticed you calling the 3.33GHz Celeron D the 356 before. What is being launched on December 25 is the 355, based on the current 90nm Prescott. The 356 and the 352 are 65nm Cedar Mill based parts and are being launched Q2. The date may be moved up a bit since the dates for Cedar Mill and Presler have moved up a month earlier than originally planned. The 356 and 352 will run at 3.33GHz and 3.2GHz respectively and integrate 512k of L2 cache. I really wish Intel would be more consistant in their naming system. The 355 really aught to be the 356 since the xx1 and xx6 indicates 64-bit support and the current 356 aught to be the 3x7 as the xx2 and xx7 indicate 65nm.

 

[RoundSparrow]

Ok, chips were announced today (December 27) - but not shipping until January mid.

 

[endyen]

Gives you time to work out a cooling system. I believe one of the old members put together a water system, with a small freezer incorporated. That should fit your needs.

 

[RoundSparrow]

Any more recent rumors about a ship date?

 

[ltcommander_data]

All Intel processor families for the consumer market to be launched up to Q1 2006 have done so. This includes the Celeron D 355 launched December 25 and the 955EE launched December 27, both of which now appear on the Intel website. The rest of Presler including the 920D, 930D, 940D and 950D, Cedar Mill 6x1, and both single core and dual core Yonahs in regular, LV, and ULV configurations have all launched today.

http://www.theregister.com/2006/01/03/intel_debuts_presler_cedar_mill/
http://www.theregister.com/2006/01/03/intel_prices_up_yonah/
http://www.theregister.com/2006/01/03/intel_updates_xeon_dp/

They are expected to all ship in quantities by the middle of January so in the next two weeks. Current (older) models will have their prices cut at the end of the month for clearance.

 

[RoundSparrow]

Onsale.com shipped on the 6th and got delivery today. Thanks to all who helped out.