Benchmarks: Intel's 64-bit Pentium 4 660
Published: 03 Mar 2005
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 | |||
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| CPU |
Pentium 4 660 (N0-Stepping) |
Athlon 64 4000+ |
Pentium 4 560 (D0-Stepping) |
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| |||
| Maximum* | 230W | 203W | 267W |
| Minimum | 113W | 103W | 153W |
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* 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.
Full Talkback thread
33 comments
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Why no Linux based benchmarks? 64 bit linux has a... James Essex -
64 bit Linux isn't even considered in the art... davidm -
You know what's funny? I read these articles... Anonymous Cowheard -
Mostly directed at ubah Linux hardcorz:
How a... Michael Jaars -
That's because linux suck, get a grip Anonymous -
"64-bit computing [...] won't be a huge deal for t... Casper Wilstrup -
While it's nice to see some competition in the 64-... Fredrik Tolf -
In the case of architectures like Ultrasparc... Tim -
The games benchmarks are obviously limit... Filotti -
What an irritatingly Windows-centric view.
I need... Sean C, McCord -
Who cares about Windows anymore? Everyone is switc... Anonymous -
Linux, Linux, Linux. Do the review again! Jim -
not everyone is moving to linux!
dont be a la... that guys a lamer -
How about Linux benchmarks? Windows is pretty much... Anonymous -
what the fuck does the following mean "although th... Anonymous -
STFU you stupid Linux fanboys. All you guys... Skippity McDoody -
To say 64-bit versions of architectures... Anonymous -
Hopefully you do not use intel. If you do - d... rowan -
what the fcuk does the following mean "although th... Anonymous -
Look more like an Intel Press release than a bench... Paul Blair (toadlife) -
You need 64-bit windows to make best use of it?
Wh... michael goulish -
Sean, it doesn't seem to me that that is what the... Jason Archer -
Considering Microsoft's inability to provide... The Mitch -
"Intel may draw comfort from the fact that it has... Some Llama -
Itanium is truly 64 bits ok. read the article... Anonymous -
can't be 82%c. at that temp, your processor i... Anonymous -
I just recently bought the Intel Pentium... DeSi -
well to start off i think this article is sorta bi... Tyler -
Great review! Sorry to say that all you Linux lam... Anonymous -
Unless I'm missing something, neither AMD64 n... Cubase SX User -
I have bought the intel 660 ( 3,6GHz 64-bit) chip.... Kostis Tsiutras -
Windows Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Windows Fan -
AMD 64-bit improved my genetic algorithm optimizat... Anonymous
















