Intel's 925XE: Does Beating the 1 GHz FSB Barrier Matter?

3.46 GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition

Intel will probably continue to refrain from submitting the top model in the Pentium 4 family to the nomenclature that Intel presented with its launch of Socket 775. "Extreme Edition" is the familiar name for Intel's killer processor with the 2 MB L3 cache, designed with gamers and multimedia users in mind - a group for whom money is no object.

On the inside of the processor, the picture is the same: aside from the L3 cache, the 130 nm core has a 512 kB L2 cache. The processor will be on sale starting in November. Due to the increased FSB speed (from 200 to 266 MHz) its use in Socket 478 will not be an option. The equally boosted 925XE chipset and Socket 775 are used.

Nothing will change as far as pricing goes: Intel will ship its model to dealers for $999 per unit in lots of 1,000. It should also be assumed that the number of units sold will be miniscule. The exact numbers are impossible to get hold of, but we can say with some confidence that, in the end, sales of the equally pricey Athlon 64 FX will be decidedly better.