Intel launches 3.73GHz Extreme dual-core Pentium
By Tony Smith
23rd March 2006 12:27 GMT
Intel has quietly rolled out the dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition
965, its anticipated upgrade to the gaming-oriented CPU family that
ups the clock speed to 3.73GHz. Due in Q2, the part is already
making appearances on the chip giant's website.
In other respects, the new chip matches the previous
top-of-the-range PEE processor, the 3.46GHz 955. The new part
supports a 1066MHz frontside bus clock frequency, each core has 2MB
of L2 cache, it's fabbed at 65nm, it has Virtualisation Technology,
HyperThreading, support for Windows XP Service Pack 2's 'no
execute' anti-virus technique, and has 64-bit addressing.
The 965 may prove short-lived. According to recent
Intel roadmaps, the chip will be joined in Q3 by a 'Conroe'-based
version of unknown clock speed. The roadmap doesn't show any
'Presler'-based PEEs from Q4 onwards.
The 955 is currently down on Intel's price list as costing $999, as
is the previous-generation 840, and we'd expect the new model to be
priced at that kind of level. ®