Introduction
Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 Processor
At the very end of last year, Intel released its fastest desktop CPU, the Pentium Extreme Edition 955 processor. Based on two Cedar Mill cores and sporting a total of 4MB of L2 cache in addition to Hyper-Threading, the 3.46GHz processor was considered, on balance, to be on a par with AMD's then-fastest CPU, the dual-core Athlon 64 X2 4800+. A few days later, AMD's riposte was the Athlon 64 FX-60, which increased the 4800+'s clockspeed by 200MHz and offered a wide range of multipliers for the enthusiast to play with.In this tit-for-tat performance battle, Intel has now hit back with a Pentium Extreme Edition that clocks in at 3.73GHz - up from the '955's 3.46GHz. Is it enough to push aside the FX-60 as the fastest x86 CPU around? Read on to find out if the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 processor has what it takes to dislodge the FX-60 as the high-end desktop CPU of choice.
