Intel 925XE chipset and 3.46GHz Extreme Edition CPU

Thoughts

The introduction of a revised Alderwood chipset that officially supports a 266MHz system bus is a decent move by Intel. DDR2 533MHz RAM has been available for some time now so ramping up the system clock to match it's dual-channel output is sensible. We've identified that all other Alderwood-specific features are still untouched and we expect to see 266MHz FSB LGA775 processors released imminently to complemented boards based on the 925XE chipset. That being the case, current premium 925X Alderwood motherboards and matching 200MHz FSB CPUs will immediately look unattractive to informed buyers looking to move over to Intel's flagship consumer platform. Why would you want to be an intrinsically slower setup that's just been superceded?. It's hard to justify why.

If we take away pure benchmark performance as the prime indicator of a platform's worth and concentrate on features instead, 925X/XE chipsets/motherboards then become a decent choice. We know that DDR2 memory will continue to scale upwards easily, PCI-Express is now becoming the high-end graphics interface of choice, onboard high-definition audio is pretty good, and ICH6's storage potential is vast and impressive. The trouble is, as we all too well know, that AMD's range of Athlon 64 processors and newly-launched, compatible PCI-Express motherboards also make a strong case for your money.

That brings me on to the 3.46GHz Extreme Edition LGA775 processor, the first to run off a 266MHz system bus. Intel has done a good enough job with the 925XE chipset but then let the platform down, in pure performance terms, by not releasing a faster Extreme Edition CPU. E.E CPUs' use of an extra 2MB L3 cache is a fine concept for adding performance without meddling around with core architecture too much, but it needs to be accompanied by clock speed increases if it's going to compete against Athlon 64 FX-55 or 4000+ processors. I looked at a 3.4GHz Extreme Edition S478 processor 9 months ago. At that time, it was competing directly against a 940-pin AMD FX-51 (2.2GHz) CPU. Now, though, the FX-55, 400MHz faster, can be paired with ultra-low latency DDR1 memory for superlative performance.

AMD has moved on but Intel's top-level performance has remained largely the same, so whilst I'm a fan of all the good aspects of 925X/XE chipsets, I find it hard to recommend it as a performance platform when the Extreme Edition is still playing catchup, most notably in gaming. Cast aside any company-specific favouritisms and ask yourself objectively what you would rather have if money was not an issue - an AMD FX-55/nForce4/DDR1 2-2-2-5 memory setup or 3.46GHz Extreme Edition/i925XE/DDR2?.