Pentium Extreme Edition 840

Introducing a New Extreme Edition

Anxious to prove that it’s ready and waiting with dual-core product, Intel sent a sample of its Pentium Extreme Edition 840, a Smithfield processor running at 3.2 GHz. We’ve mentioned in the past that Intel has had some trouble differentiating its Extreme Edition lineup from other Pentium processors. Even today, if you pay $1,000 for a 3.73 GHz, you’re merely treated to a faster front side bus. All of that should change with the Extreme Edition 800-series. Though it runs on the same 800 MHz bus, Extreme Edition processors now get exclusive rights to Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology. Standard Pentium D processors, already laden with two cores, will be able to operate on two threads simultaneously, while the Extreme Edition leverages Hyper-Threading to power through four threads. Windows XP recognizes both physical cores in addition to the logical processors, displaying four threads in its task manager.

Windows XP will properly recognize and delegate the EE's four threads

And while Intel isn’t making a public spectacle of it, the Extreme Edition chips will also start shipping with unlocked clock multipliers, much like AMD’s Athlon 64 FX series. It’s a small nod to enthusiasts, even if the architecture isn’t able to overclock well.

All of the other Smithfield-specific features persist. The Extreme Edition chip has 1MB of L2 cache per core, for 2MB total, it operates on an 800 MHz front side bus, it supports Execute Disable, and the chip features EM64T technology--a real looker now that Microsoft has put the wraps on its 64-bit version of Windows XP. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology, featured on the Pentium D processors, is not listed as one of the Extreme Edition’s attributes.

Manufactured at 90nm, it’s little surprise that the Extreme Edition 840 is fairly gargantuan at 206 square millimeters. It consists of 230 million transistors, and if you look at a die plot of the processor, you can clearly see two distinct cores. Such a massive die is undoubtedly very expensive to manufacture, especially considering the yield consideration involved with using two cores on one die. Needless to say, the move to 65nm can’t come soon enough for Intel.

Finally, because we’re dealing with a preview here, Intel is choosing to keep pricing information secret. Gut instinct, along with informal conversations, suggest that the chip will cost $1,000. Though formerly an exorbitant price, Intel’s Extreme Edition 840 would be an attractive option for a small business server or workstation looking to go multi-processor without spending a load of money. Believe it or not, such a platform would actually be less expensive than a traditional dual-processor configuration.