Socket 775: June 2004 To The Present, Continued

On February 21, 2005 , Intel introduced its 600 series, which increases the L2 cache from 1 to 2 MB. Based on the Intel roadmaps, the series should have started with the 3.8 GHz Pentium 4 680. Once again, however, Intel had to take a small step backwards and bring out the 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 660 as the highest 600 model.

The Pentium 4 660 is clocked 200 MHz slower than the top model of the 500 series and the CAS latency of the L2 cache was slightly increased due to its size. As a result of this, the CPU does not make a big splash in the benchmarks. Users have to dig deeper into their pockets due to the large number of transistors, making this CPU significantly more expensive.

The Pentium 4 660 with an L2 cache of 2 MB and 64 bit expansion

With the introduction of the 600 series, Intel presented a new Extreme Edition of the Pentium 4. Its core is identical to that of the 600 series, but the front side bus is clocked at 266 MHz (FSB1066). As a result, the CPU clock speed is 3.73 GHz. The efficient Northbridge bus, which theoretically works at 8.5 GB/s, does not benefit much due to the large L2 cache. The performance of the Extreme Edition, which is 133 MHz faster, is not significantly greater than that of the Pentium 4 660. The price is the same as the old Extreme Edition.

As a general update to the Socket 775 series, all 600 series and Extreme Editions have the 64 bit EMT 64 expansion, No-Execute Bit (NX) and Speedstep functions available. When the CPU is not at 100% capacity, Speedstep technology ensures that the multiplier is reduced to at least 14 in order to cut performance losses. Many motherboard manufacturers make use of this feature, allowing the user to force a multiplier of 14 and thereby, increase the FSB of the CPU. Changing the Pentium 4 660's FSB to 266 MHz transforms the CPU into an Extreme Edition.

Continue by reading The Mother of All CPU Charts Part 2 .