Benchmarks: Intel's 64-bit Pentium 4 660

Kai Schmerer ZDNet Germany

Published: 03 Mar 2005

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Conclusion

With the launch of the Pentium 4 6xx series, Intel now supports 64-bit computing on the desktop. However, this won't be a huge deal for the majority of users right away. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition will ship within a few weeks, but the lack of key device drivers -- for example for digital TV cards -- will deter many from upgrading for a while yet. Also, the number of available 64-bit Windows applications can be counted on the fingers of one hand; again, this will not be enough to tempt many upgraders.

So it's just as well that the new Intel processors have more to offer than 64-bit support. Improved power management and protection from memory overflow (via the XD bit) will prove valuable. Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology (EIST) allows for the dynamic adjustment of voltage and clock speed, which reduces average power consumption significantly. Even when playing a HDTV video, the Pentium 4 660 remains at its lowest clock speed of 2.8GHz, with reduced voltage. As a result, the cooling system can be simpler than it was when the Prescott CPU was introduced over a year ago. Very quiet systems can now be built around high-performance Pentium 4 processors -- a particularly important factor if the PC is to function as the basis for the 'digital home' and take its place in the living room.

Performance
As far as performance is concerned, the 3.6GHz Pentium 4 660 can hold its own against its main competitor, the Athlon 64 4000+. The Intel chip performs particularly well if several tasks are running at the same time; under these circumstances, the Pentium 4 can outpace its AMD rival even if the latter is quicker at performing the tasks on their own. Thanks to HyperThreading (HT), the Pentium 4 distributes processing tasks across two virtual cores, resulting in more efficient utilisation of CPU resources. Such scenarios are found ever more frequently in the real world. For example, no-one should venture onto the Internet without firewall, antivirus and anti-spyware protection. These services are constantly active and need appropriate resources. Likewise, operations such as data encryption or hard disk defragmentation can load the processor, while the user compresses streaming video or audio data. Under such usage patterns, the advantage of HT is particularly apparent.

With the 6xx-series Pentium 4, Intel has ensured that important functionality such as protection from memory overflow, power management and 64-bit support on the desktop is no longer an AMD domain. And with HT support and SSE3 instructions, the new Intel processors offer additional benefits. One change will annoy Intel, however: on the installation CD for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, the most important operating system files are no longer in the 'i386' folder; Intel systems must load the installation files now from the 'AMD64' folder. Although that might hurt the industry leader, Intel may draw comfort from the fact that it has already sold more 64-bit chips than the inventor of the x86-64 architecture, AMD.

Architecture comparison
CPU	Pentium 4 660	Athlon 64 4000+
64-bit support	yes, EM64T	yes, AMD64
Power management	yes, EIST	yes, Cool 'n Quiet
Memory overflow protection	yes, XD bit	yes, NX bit
HyperThreading	yes	no
SSE3	yes	no

 

 

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