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Processors Toolkit

Benchmarks: Intel's 64-bit Pentium 4 660

Kai Schmerer ZDNet Germany

Published: 03 Mar 2005

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Improved power management

The new 6xx-series Pentium 4 processors benefit from improved power management in the shape of Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology (EIST). The addition of this feature, along with improvements in the fabrication process, results in lower power consumption.

EIST provides similar functionality to AMD's Cool 'n Quiet technology in its Athlon 64 processors. If the system is in Idle mode, the voltage and clock frequency are reduced. As the CPU load increases, the voltage and clock frequency are gradually stepped up. The power consumption figures below demonstrate the effect of this technology. The Pentium 4 560 system without EIST (Intel D925XCV motherboard, 2 x 512MB Micron DDR2 RAM, MSI GeForce 6600GT, Maxtor Maxline III 250GB) uses 153 Watts in Idle mode, and this is reduced by 40 Watts when the EIST-equipped Pentium 4 660 is used instead. That's all the more impressive when you consider that Intel's new chip contains more transistors thanks to its 2MB of Level 2 cache. Compared to AMD's Athlon 64 4000+ (Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe), the Pentium 4 600 has closed the power consumption gap significantly, and is now only ten per cent behind.

Power consumption: Pentium 4 versus Athlon 64

CPU
Pentium 4 660
(N0-Stepping)

Athlon 64 4000+
Pentium 4 560
(D0-Stepping)


Maximum* 230W 203W 267W
Minimum 113W 103W 153W

* Maximum power consumption is measured using the CPU Stability Test 6.0 utility. If there is additional load on the graphics card, the system's maximum power consumption will be higher still. Note: the power consumption figures refer to complete systems with otherwise identical specifications.

 

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Full Talkback thread

33 comments

  1. Why no Linux based benchmarks? 64 bit linux has a... James Essex
  2. 64 bit Linux isn't even considered in the art... davidm
  3. You know what's funny? I read these articles... Anonymous Cowheard
  4. Mostly directed at ubah Linux hardcorz: How a... Michael Jaars
  5. That's because linux suck, get a grip Anonymous
  6. "64-bit computing [...] won't be a huge deal for t... Casper Wilstrup
  7. While it's nice to see some competition in the 64-... Fredrik Tolf
  8. In the case of architectures like Ultrasparc... Tim
  9. The games benchmarks are obviously limit... Filotti
  10. What an irritatingly Windows-centric view. I need... Sean C, McCord
  11. Who cares about Windows anymore? Everyone is switc... Anonymous
  12. Linux, Linux, Linux. Do the review again! Jim
  13. not everyone is moving to linux! dont be a la... that guys a lamer
  14. How about Linux benchmarks? Windows is pretty much... Anonymous
  15. what the fuck does the following mean "although th... Anonymous
  16. STFU you stupid Linux fanboys. All you guys... Skippity McDoody
  17. To say 64-bit versions of architectures... Anonymous
  18. Hopefully you do not use intel. If you do - d... rowan
  19. what the fcuk does the following mean "although th... Anonymous
  20. Look more like an Intel Press release than a bench... Paul Blair (toadlife)
  21. You need 64-bit windows to make best use of it? Wh... michael goulish
  22. Sean, it doesn't seem to me that that is what the... Jason Archer
  23. Considering Microsoft's inability to provide... The Mitch
  24. "Intel may draw comfort from the fact that it has... Some Llama
  25. Itanium is truly 64 bits ok. read the article... Anonymous
  26. can't be 82%c. at that temp, your processor i... Anonymous
  27. I just recently bought the Intel Pentium... DeSi
  28. well to start off i think this article is sorta bi... Tyler
  29. Great review! Sorry to say that all you Linux lam... Anonymous
  30. Unless I'm missing something, neither AMD64 n... Cubase SX User
  31. I have bought the intel 660 ( 3,6GHz 64-bit) chip.... Kostis Tsiutras
  32. Windows Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Windows Fan
  33. AMD 64-bit improved my genetic algorithm optimizat... Anonymous

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