Pentium r 4. Intel Pentium4 LGA775 processors

I'm tired of the delayed information message that there are so many results in the overclocking database, but our Laboratory has tested only 113 processors, and the number is kind of ugly. We haven’t tested overclocking stones for a long time and I decided to take a few. At first I was going to take the P4 2.4C and 2.6 GHz, fortunately there is almost no difference in cost between them, and the price dropped below two hundred dollars, but then I looked at the article Summary statistics of overclocking Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron on the Northwood core and realized that they are the ones that are tested the most . Processors with a frequency of 2.8 GHz were not available and instead they brought me three Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz processors. All processors are assembled in Malaysia based on the Northwood stepping D1 core, marked SL6WK and have a nominal voltage of 1.525V.

The test system is familiar to you:

Motherboard – Asus P4P800, rev 1.02, BIOS 1009
Processor – Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz
Video card – ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Memory – 2x256 MB Kingston PC3500 HyperX
Hard drive – IBM DTLA 305020
Cooler – Zalman CNPS-7000A-Cu
Thermal paste – KPT-8
Operating system – MS Windows XP SP1, Catalyst 3.9

As always, before starting a detailed check, I choose the most overclockable copy. So this time, I figured that the processors should reach the calculated frequency of 3.6 GHz with an FSB of 240 MHz, but I started with a cautious 230 MHz. The memory frequency was reduced so as not to interfere with overclocking. The processor worked, it loaded Windows at both 235 MHz and 240 MHz, but at 250 MHz it was only able to start. Well done! The processor was put aside and I started checking the second one.

The second one immediately disappointed me, as it turned out to be unable to load Windows even at 240 MHz, so it did not take part in further tests. The third processor behaved in the same way as the first and I began a more thorough check with it. The maximum it was capable of was 247 MHz on the bus.

At this frequency it was possible to take and process a screenshot, but there was no talk of reliable and stable operation; the processor immediately failed the tests. By the way, this time I used a series of processor tests from PCMark04 as a testing program. While testing the EPoX EP-4PDA2V motherboard, I discovered that when the voltage increases by 0.5 V, the processor on it seems to work stably, passes tests, but fails in PCMark04. The failure occurred somewhere around the tenth test; if I’m not mistaken, something was being unpacked or, conversely, archived. Only raising the voltage by another 0.025 V made it possible to get rid of errors and complete the entire test cycle. I was impressed and started testing processors using PCMark04. Of course, this program still won’t give a 100% guarantee, but it still checks the processor comprehensively, in various tests.

Based on the test results, it turned out that our third Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz processor passes tests at a bus frequency of 243 MHz. Okay, 3645 MHz is a good result, let’s go back to the tests of the first processor. It turned out to be somewhat weaker and showed stable operation only at FSB 238 MHz, which was 3570 MHz of the real processor frequency.

So, I am generally satisfied with the results of testing Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz processors. Their overclocking limit is in the region of 3.5-3.6 GHz, like younger processors, but the x15 multiplier allows you not to raise the bus frequency too much. This means that we can overclock synchronously with the memory if we find one that agrees to work at a frequency of 235-245 MHz, and this is quite realistic. The most serious disadvantage of these processors is still the cost, which today is about three hundred dollars.

New “spring” processors continue to delight us with their appearance. This time, Intel distinguished itself by presenting two top-end Pentium 4 processors with a frequency of 3.4 GHz on the Ukrainian market, but built on different cores - Northwood and Prescott, respectively. We hope this review will help you decide what such similar and yet so different CPUs can give the user.
This time we decided not to make bulky material, especially since just recently
We have already examined in detail the previous generations of these processors with frequencies of 3.2
GHz. Most of our readers are probably familiar with the features of the Northwood core.
edition, hence changes in performance when moving to a new frequency
3.4 GHz can be calculated even on a calculator, having the necessary database of previous
test results. But the design of the processor has been slightly updated. Basics
The (external) change affected the power elements of the crystal itself. As is known,
on the back side of the processor substrate there are hanging elements (mainly
shunt capacitors). So, if earlier in the 200 (800) MHz Northwood series
their number and location were the same, then the 3.4 GHz model is radically different
from their predecessors. Its substrate is exactly like the Pentium 4 in a pod
Extreme Edition. The almost twofold increase in the number of capacitors is probably caused by
the desire to reduce surges and noise levels that occur in the processor power circuits.
As it turned out, these metamorphoses had a positive effect on the overclocking potential,
but more on that later.

Prescott was also noted, but in this case the changes concern exclusively
software part. From a technical point of view, the differences between the new model and the frequency
We were unable to detect 3.4 GHz from 3.2. So what are these changes that
will allow the new mass-produced CPUs from Intel to show themselves in all their glory?

Configurations test systems
Platform	Intel		AMD
CPU	Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott) 3.2/3.4E GHz	Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood) 3.4C GHz	AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.2 GHz
Motherboard	Abit IC7-MAX3 (i875P chipset)		ASUS K8V Deluxe (VIA K8T800 chipset)
Memory	Kingston HyperX PC3500 (2?512 MB)
Video card	HIS Radeon 9800XT 256 MB
Hard drive	Western Digital WD300BB 30 GB 7200 rpm
OS	Windows XP Professional SP2

Prescott processor core ecosystem

Perhaps one of the significant achievements
recent times - correct "understanding" of Prescott operating room
Windows XP system with Service Pack 2 installed. Until the official release of this
"upgrade" is too early to talk about possible advantages and a new level
control of Hyper-Threading technology, but the trend itself is still positive.
Also during testing we noticed another interesting feature
- motherboards for which there are new BIOS versions with a declared 100%
compatible with the Prescott kernel, exhibit very unusual behavior. Really,
after flashing, the speed of working with memory increases significantly, and its latency
decreases slightly (remember, if you install a Prescott CPU). But if the fee
with the new BIOS install Northwood, the performance of the memory subsystem, although insignificant,
but it will still fall. There are two conclusions from all this so far: a) if you are a Pentium owner
4 Series B/C, do not rush to update the BIOS on your motherboard; b) it’s too early
talk about the “nuances” of the BIOS as an established pattern, but that
fact that three popular motherboard models still demonstrate such
the result is at least thought provoking.

We also note the slow implementation of SSE3 support in modern multimedia
BY. The promised drivers from ATI and NVidia have not yet appeared, and the authors of media codecs
they are in no hurry to use the advantages of SSE3 in their products. Although in Japan
- a country that loves high technology so much - a new set of teams is already enough
intensively used by “national” software. We even managed to find results
testing, where a 10% increase in performance was reported in the case of
media coding. Again, when will the "reality" of SSE3 reach us?
- still unknown. But the fact that at least this will be a plus
and not “minus”, it’s already pleasing.

Test results

The Primordia test from the Science Mark 2.0 kit, although indirectly, indicates
that Prescott is not designed for complex mathematics. Even with the new frequency
At 3.4 GHz it is far from its competitors. But Northwood 3.4 GHz proved that
when using Hyper-Threading technology, its computing capabilities
practically not inferior to Athlon 64 3400+.

The remaining results can be considered from the point of view of global patterns.
There is a real correspondence between the 3400+ rating of the Athlon 64 2.2 GHz and the real one.
performance Pentium 4 (Northwood) 3.4 GHz. With some deviations
(Unreal Tournament always performed better on CPUs
AMD, and “multimedia” is always better with Intel CPUs, especially with
using software that supports SMP), we observe basically similar performance.
Now let's see where the new 90nm Intel processor ranked first
places - archiving WinRAR, 3DMark 2003, SPECviewperf 7.1.1. Again remarkable
- if Prescott lags behind, then it lags significantly, if it is in the lead, then it is also very
palpable. Another confirmation that the new Intel processor cannot be unambiguously
call it neither “good” nor “vice versa.” Firstly, completely
the very ecosystem where he can express himself 100% has not been formed,
and secondly, he just another(different from everything that we are so
took a long time to get used to).

Conclusions

After the rather revolutionary appearance of the AMD64 family, which shook
and which has excited the IT community, some calm is again observed.
As our testing has shown, the new mainstream Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood) processors
3.4 GHz and AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.2 GHz are truly “top”
for both companies and are in no way inferior to each other, and the choice remains exclusively
behind the user. Although the AMD platform will cost the buyer a little less,
but the dramatic difference that was in the case of the Athlon XP will no longer be there.
Now, if you want to purchase new High-End systems, regardless of the manufacturer
the platform will have to pay comparable amounts. Well, would you recommend purchasing?
Prescott is suitable for those who want to become the owner of advanced technologies that
must prove themselves in the future. So to speak, the platform is “for growth”.

But still we will express some complaints about Prescott. They consist in too
high heat generation. Even after following all the recommendations regarding circulation
air, we got about 70 °C on the chip in a closed case. In case of use
powerful video card and PC3200 memory modules, this can cause the temperature
inside the case will exceed 50 ° C - you agree, it’s too much. We hope that in
In future steppings, Intel will closely address this problem, otherwise further
An increase in frequencies may turn out to be unsafe.

Overclocking

For serious and stable overclocking of new processors from Intel, you will have to
at least replace the standard coolers with something more powerful and add them to the case
a couple of fans. CPU with index "C" was able to work stably
at a frequency of 3.72 GHz (additional elements in the power circuit probably affected
which we talked about at the beginning). Prescott reached the threshold of 3.8 GHz, but in open
case and with the Zalman CNPS7000ACu cooler, it seems to us, we can achieve higher
frequencies using traditional cooling methods simply will not succeed.

As is known, revolutions in computer
are happening less and less often around the world. And are they really necessary where, in general, “everyone
good", where the capabilities of systems and products more than cover the needs of the majority
modern users. This fully applies to the corporation’s processors.
Intel, industry leader. The company has a full line of high-performance
CPUs of all levels (server, desktop, mobile), clock speeds have long been
have exceeded the “sky-high” 3 GHz, sales are going “with a bang.”
And probably, if it weren’t for the revived competitors (more precisely, competitor), then that's it
that would be really good.

But the “gigahertz race” does not stop. Let's leave aside consideration of questions like " Who needs it?" And " How in demand is this?"—let's just accept it as a fact: in order to stay afloat, CPU manufacturers are simply forced to spend effort on producing ever faster (or at least faster) high frequency) products.

Intel marked the beginning of February with the presentation of a whole range of new processors. Company
released seven new CPUs at once, including:

Pentium 4 3.40 GHz ("old" Northwood core);
Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.40 GHz;
as many as four representatives of the new line with the Prescott core (by the way, emphasis
on the first syllable) - 3.40E, 3.20E, 3.0E and 2.80E GHz, manufactured on 90 nm
technologies and equipped with a 1 MB second level cache.

All these CPUs are designed for an 800 MHz bus and support Hyper-Threading technology. In addition, Intel released the Pentium 4 on the Prescott core with a frequency of 2.8A GHz, also manufactured using the 90 nm process, but designed for an FSB frequency of 533 MHz and not supporting Hyper-Threading. According to Intel, this processor is designed specifically for PC OEMs in response to their requests. Let us add on our own behalf - and to the delight of overclockers, who will certainly appreciate its overclocking capabilities.

With the release of new CPUs, the Pentium 4 family has expanded significantly and now looks as shown in table. 1. Naturally, Intel has no intention of curtailing production of Pentium 4 based on the Northwood core with FSB 533 and 800 MHz. In addition, several models designed for a 400 MHz bus (five processors from 2A to 2.60 GHz) remain in the line.

By developing 90nm technologies that should provide normal
functioning of Prescott class processors, Intel engineers are forced
had to overcome serious obstacles. The nature of these obstacles was
not in insufficient resolution of production equipment, but in problems
physical nature associated with the impossibility of manufacturing such small
transistors using traditional technologies.

The first to appear was charge leakage from the transistor gate through the thinned
a dielectric layer between the gate and channel. At a resolution of 90 nm it “degenerates”
into a barrier of four SiO2 atoms 1.2 nm thick. There is a need
in new insulating materials with a higher dielectric constant
permeability (high-K dielectric). Due to their greater permeability, they allow
build up a thick (up to 3 nm) insulating layer without creating obstacles
for the gate electric field. These are the oxides of hafnium and zirconium.
Unfortunately, they turned out to be incompatible with the currently used polycrystalline
gates, and phonon vibrations arising in the dielectric cause
decrease in electron mobility in the channel.

At the boundary with the gate, another phenomenon is observed, which is expressed in a significant
increasing the threshold voltage level required to change the state
conductivity of the transistor channel. The solution was found in the form of a metal
shutter Last year, the corporation's specialists finally selected two
suitable metals, which made it possible to design new miniature
NMOS and PMOS transistors. What metals did they use?
is still kept secret.

To increase the speed of transistors (it is determined by the speed
transition to open/closed state), Intel resorted to forming
channel from a single crystal of strained silicon. "Voltage"
in this case means deformation of the crystal lattice of the material.
As it turned out, through structurally damaged silicon, both electrons (+10%
for NMOS) and holes (+25% for PMOS) pass through with less resistance.
Improving mobility increases the maximum transistor current when on.
condition.

For NMOS and PMOS transistors, the voltage state is achieved in different ways.
methods. In the first case, everything is very simple: usually the transistor is on top
“covered” with a layer of silicon nitride, which serves as a protective
masks, and to create voltage in the channel, the thickness of the nitride layer is increased
doubled. This leads to the creation of additional load on the source areas
and drain and, accordingly, stretches and deforms the channel.

PMOS transistors are “volted” according to a different circuit. Zones first
The source and drain are etched, and then a SiGe layer is grown in them. Atoms
germanium exceeds silicon atoms in size and therefore germanium layers
have always been used to create voltage in silicon. However, the peculiarity
Intel technology is that in this case the compression of silicon
the channel occurs in a longitudinal section.

The new technological process also made it possible to increase the number of layers
metallization from six to seven (copper connections). It is curious that at the production
lines “shoulder to shoulder” work like lithographic machines
new generation with a wavelength of 193 nm, and their predecessors with a wavelength
waves 248 nm. In general, the percentage of reused equipment reached 75,
which made it possible to reduce the cost of modernizing factories.

Prescott Features

In discussions leading up to the release of the Prescott core processor, it was jokingly referred to as “Pentium 5”. In fact, this was exactly the typical answer from a computer pro to the question “What is Prescott?” Of course, Intel did not change the trademark, and there were no sufficient reasons for this. Let's remember the practice of software release - where the version number is changed only when the product is radically redesigned, while less significant changes are indicated by fractional version numbers. Fractional numbers are not yet accepted in the processor industry, and the fact that Prescott continued the Pentium 4 line is precisely a reflection of the fact that the changes are not so radical.

Processors based on the Prescott core, although they contain many innovations and modifications compared
with Northwood, but are based on the same NetBurst architecture, have the same packaging,
as the previous Pentium 4, are installed in the same Socket 478 connector and, in principle,
should work on most motherboards that support 800 MHz FSB and
providing the proper supply voltages (of course, an update will be required
BIOS).

We will leave a detailed study of practical issues related to Prescott for a separate material. In the meantime, let's try to look at what changes have appeared in Prescott, and understand how this processor differs from its predecessor and what can be expected as a result.

The main innovations implemented in the Prescott core are the following:

Transfer of crystal production to the 90 nm process technology.
Increased conveyor length (from 20 to 31 stages).
Doubled L1 caches (data cache - from 8 to 16 KB) and L2 (from 512 KB to
1 MB).
Architecture changes:
-modified transition prediction block;
-improved L1 cache logic (improved prefetching
data);
-the appearance of new blocks in the processor;
-increased volume of some buffers.
Advanced Hyper-Threading Technology.
Added support for the new set of SIMD instructions SSE3 (13 new commands).

The main differences between the three processor cores used in the Pentium 4 are summarized in table. 2. The number of transistors in Prescott has more than doubled - by 70 million. Of these, according to rough estimates, about 30 million can be attributed to the doubling of the L2 cache (an additional 512 KB, 6 transistors per cell). Moreover, there is still quite a significant number left, and even from this value alone one can indirectly judge the scale of the changes that have occurred in the kernel. Note that, despite such an increase in the number of elements, the core area not only did not increase, but even decreased compared to Northwood.

WITH 90nm process technology everything is, in general, understandable (of course, at a simplified, “user” level). The smaller size of transistors will reduce the processor supply voltage and reduce the power it dissipates, and consequently, heating. This will open the way for a further increase in clock frequencies, which, although it will be accompanied by an increase in heat dissipation, the “reference point” for this increase will be different, somewhat lower. Note that, taking into account the larger number of transistors in Prescott compared to Northwood, it would be more correct to talk not about a reduction, but about preservation or lower magnification dissipated power.

Extended Conveyor. As can be seen from table. 2, Prescott's pipeline length (31 stages) is more than half that of Northwood. What lies behind this is quite clear: this is not the first time that Intel has increased the length of the pipeline, aiming to increase clock frequencies - it is known that the longer the pipeline, the better the processor core is “overclocked”. In principle, it is difficult to say unequivocally whether such an “extension” is really necessary at the current stage, at frequencies in the region of 3.5 GHz - enthusiastic overclockers overclocked the Pentium 4 (Northwood) to higher values. But sooner or later, an increase in the number of stages would be inevitable - so why not combine this event with the release of a new kernel?

Increased cache and buffer sizes. In principle, this point is directly related to the previous one. To ensure that a long pipeline works at high frequencies, it is desirable to have a larger “handy warehouse” in the form of a cache to reduce the number of idle times during which the processor waits for the required data to be loaded from memory. In addition, it is well known that, all other things being equal, of two processors with different pipeline lengths, the one with the shorter pipeline length will be more productive. When branch prediction errors occur, the processor is forced to “reset” its pipeline and load it with work in a new way. And the greater the number of stages it contains, the more painful such mistakes are. Of course, they cannot be completely excluded, and at the same frequencies Northwood and Prescott would have been less productive... if it had not had a larger L2 cache, which largely compensated for the lag. Naturally, everything here depends on the specifics of specific applications, which we will try to check in the practical part.

As mentioned above, Prescott has increased not only the overall L2 cache, but also the L1 data cache, the size of which has grown from 8 to 16 KB. Its organization and part of the logic of work have also changed - for example, a mechanism has been introduced forced promotion (force forwarding), which reduces latency in cases where a dependent operation to load data from the cache cannot be speculatively completed before a previous operation to place that data into the cache has completed.

In addition to the volume of caches, the capacity of two schedulers responsible for storing micro-operations ( uops), which are used in x87/SSE/SSE2/SSE3 instructions. This, in particular, made it possible to more effectively find parallelism in multimedia algorithms and execute them with better performance.

Actually, we have already touched on some of the innovations in the Pentium 4 architecture implemented in Prescott, since they are “scattered” across the processor core and affect many of its blocks. The next important change is...

Modified branch prediction block. As is known, accuracy
The operation of this unit is critical to ensure high performance
modern processor. "Looking through" the program code following
currently running, the processor can in advance perform parts
of this code is a well-known speculative execution. If
The program encounters a branch as a result of a conditional jump ( if-then-else),
then the question arises about which of the two branches is “better” to carry out in advance.
Northwood's algorithms were relatively simple: transitions back were supposed
happening, forward- No. This worked for the most part for loops,
but not for other types of transitions. Prescott uses the concept length
transition: Research has shown that if the crossing distance exceeds
a certain limit, then the transition with a high degree of probability will not occur
(Accordingly, there is no need to speculatively execute this part of the code). Also in Prescott
a more thorough analysis of the transition conditions themselves has been introduced, on the basis of which
decisions about the probability of making a transition. In addition to static prediction algorithms,
dynamic algorithms also underwent changes (by the way, new ideas were partially
borrowed from the mobile Pentium M).

The appearance of new blocks in the processor. Two new blocks in Prescott are block of bit shifts and cyclic shifts(shifter/rotator) and dedicated integer multiplication block. The first allows you to perform the most typical shift operations on one of two fast ALUs operating at double the CPU core frequency (in previous modifications of the Pentium 4, these operations were performed as integer ones and took several clock cycles). To carry out integer multiplication, FPU resources were previously used, which took quite a long time - it was necessary to transfer data to the FPU, perform a relatively slow multiplication there and transfer the result back. To speed up these operations, Prescott has added a new block responsible for such multiplication operations.

Improved Hyper-Threading. Of course, all the innovations listed above were introduced into Prescott for a reason. According to Intel specialists, most of the modifications in the logic of caches, command queues, etc. are in one way or another related to the performance of the processor when using Hyper-Threading, i.e., when several program threads are running simultaneously. At the same time, these innovations have only a minor impact on the performance of single-threaded applications. Prescott also increased the set of instructions that are “allowed” to be executed in parallel on the processor (for example, a page table operation and a memory operation that splits a cache line). Again, for single-threaded applications, the inability to combine such operations had virtually no impact on performance, whereas when running two threads, such a limitation often became a bottleneck. Another example is that if Northwood had a cache miss and needed to read data from RAM, the next cache lookup operation would be delayed until that action was completed. As a result, one application that frequently missed the cache could significantly slow down the work of other threads. In Prescott, this conflict is easily overcome; operations can be performed in parallel. Also in Prescott, the logic of arbitration and resource sharing between threads was redesigned in order to increase overall performance.

SSE3 instructions. As we remember, the last time the expansion of the SIMD instruction set
Intel carried out by releasing the first Pentium 4 (Willamette) and implementing SSE2 in it.
The next extension, called SSE3 and containing 13 new instructions,
carried out at Prescott. All of them, with the exception of three, use SSE registers
and are designed to improve performance in the following areas:

fast conversion of a real number to an integer ( fisttp);
complex arithmetic calculations ( addsubps, addsubpd, movsldup, movshdup,
movddup);
video encoding ( lddqu);
graphics processing ( haddps, hsubps, haddpd, hsubpd);
thread synchronization ( monitor, mwait).

Naturally, a detailed discussion of all new instructions is beyond the scope of this material; this information is provided in the corresponding programmer manual. Instructions in the first four categories serve both to speed up the execution of the operations themselves and to make them more “economical” in the sense of using processor resources (and, therefore, optimizing the operation of Hyper-Threading and the speculative execution mechanism). The program code is also significantly reduced and, importantly, simplified. For example, the instruction to quickly convert a real number to an integer fisttp replaces seven (!) commands of traditional code. Even compared to SSE2 instructions (which themselves also speed up code execution and reduce code size), SSE3 instructions provide significant savings in many cases. Two instructions of the last group - monitor And mwait— allow the application (more precisely flow) tell the processor that it is not currently doing any useful work and is waiting (for example, writing to a specific memory location, causing an interrupt or exception). In this case, the processor can be switched to a low-power mode or, when using Hyper-Threading, give all resources to another thread. In general, with SSE3 new opportunities for code optimization open up for programmers. The problem here, as always in such cases, is one: until the new set of instructions becomes a generally accepted standard, software developers will have to maintain two code branches (with and without SSE3) for applications to work on everyone processors...

Where are you coming?..

In general, the volume of innovations implemented in the Prescott core can be called
significant. And although it falls short of the “real Pentium 5”, it is
“four and a half” may well come close. Transition from Northwood core
to Prescott - in principle, an evolutionary process that fits well into the general
Intel strategy. Gradual changes in the Pentium 4 architecture are clearly visible in
scheme: the architecture is modified and updated with new features - there is a consistent
CPU optimization for a specific set of software.

What can you expect from Prescott? Perhaps, first of all (although this may seem somewhat strange) - new frequencies. Intel itself admits that at equal frequencies the performance of Prescott and Northwood will differ little. The positive impact of Prescott's large L2 cache and other innovations is largely offset by its significantly longer pipeline, which is sensitive to branch prediction errors. And even taking into account the fact that the block of this very transition predictor has been improved, it still cannot be ideal. The main advantage of Prescott is different: the new core will allow you to further increase the frequency - to values previously unattainable with Northwood. According to Intel's plans, the Prescott core is designed to last for two years until it is replaced by the next core, manufactured using 65 nm (0.065 micron) technology.

Therefore, the currently released processor on the new Prescott core does not claim to be a performance champion right from the start and should show itself in all its glory in the future. Another confirmation of this is the positioning of the processor: the Pentium 4 on the Prescott core is designed for mainstream systems, while the top CPU was and remains the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. By the way, although the frequency bar for Intel processors has nominally risen to 3.4 GHz with the release of Prescott, the appearance of the first OEM systems based on the Pentium 4 3.4 GHz on the new core will occur somewhat later this quarter (and commercial deliveries of Prescott have already begun in the fourth quarter of 2003).

Another area where Prescott can (and most likely will) shine is in running software optimized for SSE3. The optimization process has already begun, and today there are at least five applications that support the new instruction set: MainConcept (MPEG-2/4), xMPEG, Ligos (MPEG-2/4), Real (RV9), On2 (VP5/VP6) . During 2004, support for SSE3 should appear in such packages as Adobe Premiere, Pinnacle MPEG Encoder, Sony DVD Source Creator, Ulead MediaStudio and VideoStudio, various audio and video codecs, etc. Recalling the optimization process for SSE/SSE2, you can understand that we will see the results of SSE3, but not immediately - again, this is, in a certain sense, a “startup for the future.”

Well, what about “on the other side of the front line”? Intel's main competitor is still going its own way, moving further and further away from the "general line." AMD continues to increase its “bare performance”, making do with significantly lower frequencies for now. The memory controller, which in the Athlon 64 migrated from the northbridge to the processor, added fuel to the fire, providing unprecedented speed of access to RAM. And recently a processor with a rating of 3400+ was released (no, no one is talking about full compliance with the competitors’ product in terms of frequency...).

However, Intel and AMD are now in approximately equal situations - their top processors are awaiting the release of appropriate optimized software in order to show their full potential. Intel is increasingly “moving into multimedia”: the Pentium 4’s performance is more than enough for office software, and for Prescott to realize its potential, it needs optimized multimedia applications (and/or high clock speeds, the ability to achieve which there is no doubt). It is worth noting the fact that reworking codecs for SSE3 is perhaps not the most difficult operation, and the effect of this will immediately be felt by all applications that use such codecs (and reworking the applications themselves is not at all necessary).

On the other hand, in mid-2004 a 64-bit version of Windows will be released for the AMD64 platform, on which the capabilities of the Athlon 64 should be demonstrated. Of course, the usual question will arise here about the set of applications for the new OS, without which the system remains practically useless. But remember that at least the same codecs already exist, compiled for 64-bit Athlon. So there is a possibility that in the near future the AMD platform will have a place to show itself. In general, it seems that while the titans are simply pumping up their muscles, building defensive structures and preparing their rear for the main thing... no, rather, next battle...

Family Pentium 4 processors produced by Intel has long been, without exaggeration, the most popular in the world of desktop computers. Even the word “Pentium” in the mouths of people who are not very computer savvy meant the speed and power of their computer. Among the advantages Pentium 4- low price, high performance and relatively low power consumption (depending on the operating clock frequency of the processor). Pentium 4 installed in the socket Socket 478 or LGA755

Pentium 4 processors are based on the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture, which provides support for a number of features such as HyperThreading technology (we'll talk about it a little later), FSB with a frequency of 400/533/800 MHz, SSE2 streaming instructions, advanced dynamic execution functions and optimized cache data transfer. In addition, Pentium 4 processors, built using 0.09-micron technology, support SSE3 streaming instructions.

The SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instructions are an extension of MMX technology and contain a number of commands for working with graphics and sound, floating point and integer calculations, and cache memory management. These instructions allow you to more efficiently work with 3D graphics, streaming audio and video data (for example, when playing DVDs), and decode MPEG2 and MPEG3 (MP3) files. However, the best results from using SSE are achieved if SSE support is implemented at the application level.

Currently, there are a wide variety of Pentium 4 processors on the market, and it is easy to get confused in the variety of them. There are two main families Pentium 4 - 5xx and 6xx, where x is the processor type number.

The 5xx family includes processors 570, 560, 550, 540, 530 and 520, with support for HT technology and 1 MB L2 cache. In turn, the 6xx family includes processors 672, 662, 660, 650, 640, which also support HT technology and are equipped with a 2 MB L2 cache memory, as well as providing support for Intel Enhanced SpeedStep, EM64T and Execute Disable Bit (NX) technologies bit).

Intel Pentium 4 technologies

Enhanced SpeedStep Technology allows you to reduce system power consumption by automatically reducing the processor clock speed for work applications. Thanks to this technology, the problems of energy saving and cooling of modern desktop computers are solved. Intel Enhanced SpeedStep technology is supported by the Pentium 4 bxx and Pentium D processor family.

All Pentium 4 processors are 32-bit. However, thanks EM64T technology, available in the new Pentium 4 bxx processor family, these processors feature support for 64-bit applications. You can learn about the differences between 32- and 64-bit applications in the “Athlon 64” section. Main advantage EM64T technology- this is the ability to install RAM on a computer, the total amount of which will be more than 4 GB (since 4 GB is the maximum amount of RAM that can be addressed in a 32-bit operating system).

Execute Disable Bit Technology (NX-bit) allows you to prohibit the execution of program code that is located in memory areas intended for storing data. Many viruses, regular and Trojan, can cause a software error known as a buffer overflow in and disguise destructive program code as data that can be used by the operating system. To prevent such a scenario, you need NX bit, which enhances system protection and reduces the likelihood of successful virus introduction. Similar technology exists for the Athlon 64; it's called Enhanced Virus Protection.

The table below contains the characteristics of the main Pentium 4 processors. It should be noted that in the table. Only some Pentium 4 models are presented. For a more complete list of all available models, you can visit the Intel Web site at www.intel.ru

Table. Pentium 4 processors

Clock processor,	FSB clock frequency, MHz	L2 cache memory size, KB	Support	Support
For LGA775 socket







For Socket 478

As you can see, the most productive processors are the Pentium 4 6xx family, which have a 2 MB L2 cache memory and universal technology support HyperThreading, Enhanced SpeedStep, EM64T and NX-bit. Also, note that Socket 478 processors that have the same clock speed have different FSB clock speeds and L2 cache sizes.

A few days after AMD officially unveiled its latest Athlon64 FX-53 processor, Intel decided to announce the launch of a 3.4 GHz version of Prescott, which is positioned to compete with the Athlon64 rather than the Athlon64 FX-53, despite the same cache size .

While Intel's clock-race strategy has been successful so far, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make a case for the Prescott processor, which doesn't scale up well compared to AMD chips that use an integrated memory controller.

Yes, Intel needs a fast platform with all the cherished features like Socket 775, PCI Express and DDR2 memory, but you can no longer rely on the processor clock speed. This is a lesson that Intel has already had to learn in the server market as AMD gains more and more support for its Opteron family. And the Pentium 4 Prescott does not live up to Intel's reputation very well, because its TDP is more than a hundred watts - while the processor does not provide any tangible advantages over its predecessor Northwood.

Intel, of course, is not resting on its laurels - today the company is in the process of introducing a new D0 stepping of the Prescott core, which will allow the processor to reach clock speeds of up to 4 GHz - as mentioned in the company's plans. Since not all 3.4 GHz versions of Prescott have D0 stepping, we decided to provide a table that will help distinguish old and new Prescott processors.

According to Intel, the latest stepping will allow increasing the clock frequency due to the introduced optimizations for energy consumption. However, the thermal package of the new processor has not changed and remains at 103 W maximum. While the processor appears to be an improvement over the 3.2GHz version, its heat output is still somewhat disproportionate to the clock speed. In any case, when purchasing, you should be prepared for high processor heat dissipation.

CPU-Z correctly identifies the new Pentium 4 processor: Model 3, Stepping 3 (CPUID 0F34h). Before us is the old stepping C0.

The new processor gets a little hotter.

Pentium 4: review of models

As you probably know, Pentium 4 Prescott is the core of the third generation Pentium 4. The first, codenamed Willamette, gained considerable popularity due to its increased performance compared to the Pentium III Tualatin, while at the same time consuming much more power.

The second generation of the core, called Northwood, was manufactured using a 130-nm process technology - today it can still be called the best Pentium 4 core, since the processor provides decent performance and good overclocking capabilities. We have already been able to get several Northwood processors to operate at frequencies above 4 GHz - and with conventional coolers.

Today there are a large number of Pentium 4 processors on the market, based on Northwood or Prescott cores. Clock frequencies today start at 2.4 GHz and end at 3.4 GHz, and in this range the consumer can choose 20 different models. So that you can better understand the situation with Pentium 4 processors, we have brought all the models together into a short table:

CPU	FSB	Core frequency	Core	HT
Pentium 4	400 MHz	2.0, 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 GHz	Northwood	No
Pentium 4B	533 MHz	2.4 GHz	Northwood	No
Pentium 4	533 MHz	2.26, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8 GHz	Northwood	No
Pentium 4	533 MHz	3.06 GHz	Northwood	Yes
Pentium 4C	800 MHz	2.4, 2.6, 2.8 GHz	Northwood	Yes
Pentium 4	800 MHz	3.0, 3.2, 3.4 GHz	Northwood	Yes
Pentium 4A	533 MHz	2.8 GHz	Prescott	No
Pentium 4E	800 MHz	2.8, 3.0, 3.2, 3.4 GHz	Prescott	Yes

The further a letter is in the alphabet, the better processor you will get. However, this only applies to comparing two different models with the same clock speed - like the Pentium 4 at 2.4 GHz and FSB400 versus the Pentium 4 B at 2.4 GHz and FSB533. Pentium 4 C runs on FSB800 and supports Hyper-Threading. The only exception is the Pentium 4 3.06 GHz, which runs on FSB533 - and is the first processor to support Hyper-Threading. The letter E denotes Prescott models with 1 MB L2 cache, while versions of this core with FSB533 are denoted by the letter A.

Intel introduces model numbers

There are many reasons why it is better to use model numbers rather than clock speeds. Firstly, the number can take into account many technological details, FSB type, cache size, frequency or additional functions - Hyper-Threading, etc. Secondly, there will be no confusion between different versions of processors with the same clock speed - as a result of which the average buyer will easily choose the fastest processor. Thirdly, there are many examples in the industry of successful use of model numbers - for example, AMD with the Opteron 14x, 24x and 84x family. The first digit of the number indicates support for the number of processors: 1 - for a single processor, 2 - for dual-processor systems, etc. The x number can be 2, 4, 6 and 8 - indicating frequencies of 1.6, 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 GHz.

Finally, we have to think about Intel Pentium M processors, especially since a new version with a 90nm process technology (Dothan) will be available soon. Since this chip will be significantly faster than the Banias due to increased clock speeds, Intel will have a very hard time making a case for buying the 3GHz Prescott desktop processor, which is slower than the 2.0GHz Dothan in some applications.

According to our sources, clock speeds should completely disappear from the names of Intel processors. Since the number of available processor models is unlikely to decrease, such a step seems quite logical to us. The future processor naming system will look something like this: the Pentium 4 processor will be supplemented with the number 5xx, and the Celeron line will be supplemented with the number Celeron 3xx.

	Mobile processors	Desktop processors
Productive market segment	Pentium M 755 (2.0 GHz) Pentium M 745 (1.8 GHz) Pentium M 735 (1.7 GHz) Pentium M 725 (1.6 GHz) Pentium M 715 (1.5 GHz)	Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
Mass market segment	Pentium 4 Mobile	Pentium 4 560 (3.6 GHz) Pentium 4 550 (3.4 GHz) Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz) Pentium 4 530 (3.0 GHz) Pentium 4 520 (2.8 GHz)
"Budget" market segment	Celeron M 340 (1.5 GHz) Celeron M 330 (1.4 GHz) Celeron M 320 (1.3 GHz)	Celeron D 340 (2.93 GHz) Celeron D 330 (2.8 GHz) Celeron D 320 (2.66 GHz) Celeron D 310 (2.53 GHz)