3.2GHZ PENTIUM 4 EXTREME EDITION & ASUS P4G800-V
e started off looking at Intel's new Prescott-based Pentium 4 processors which include several changes designed to help Intel push clock speeds even higher. As speeds increase, Prescott is likely to become more impressive. Currently, however, Prescott doesn't seem to compete very well with older processors based on the Northwood core. One reason is that Intel actually extended Prescott's instruction pipeline. Because the processor is constantly flooding the pipeline with data it expects the processor will need, the longer pipeline isn't bad until the processor mispredicts what data the processor will need. A misprediction is costly because the processor has to empty the pipeline and resend the correct data. At current speeds, Northwood is still competitive with Prescott, and if you're a gamer, there may be no better Intel processor for you than a Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. The Extreme Edition is based on the Northwood core, which

System Specs

Processor, Motherboard & Drivers Processor 3.2GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition Motherboard ASUS P4G800-V BIOS Manufacturer AMI BIOS Version 1008 Chipset Driver 5.0.2.1003 Common Components RAM DDR SDRAM (2 x 512MB) Video Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/ 1800 XP Golden Sample (GeForce FX 5950 Ultra) Hard Drive 80GB Western Digital WD800JD 7,200rpm SATA Heatsink Thermalright SLK-948U CPU Fan pcToys 92mm Tornado CD-ROM LiteOn Black 48X/24X/48X/16X DVD/CD-RW Floppy Samsung 1.44MB Power Supply Antec 430W TruePower Case Antec PLUS1080AMG Temperature Monitor MacPower Digital Doc 5
When we overclocked high-end Northwood processors several months ago, we noticed less overhead as clock speeds increased. We simply couldn't push faster processors as far as we could slower ones. Furthermore, we often saw performance scores decrease as clock speeds increased. We've had an easy time pushing Prescott speeds, but now it's time to turn our attention back to Northwood-based processors. We paired our 3.2GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (not to be confused with the 3.2E GHz, which is a Prescott chip) with an 865G motherboard from ASUS. Motherboard ASUS is one of the big names in overclocking and the company has a reputation for stable, reliable boards that overclock well. As we've said in the past, however, most companies don't target the enthusiast with their 865G motherboards. The main reason is that an enthusiast simply isn't going to be happy with a low-end integrated Intel video chip. As a result, it
six PCI slots and one 4X/8X AGP slot. An alternate version, the P4G800-VM, is a microATX boards with three PCI slots. The 865G supports 400MHz, 533MHz, and 800MHz quad-pumped FSB speeds along with up to 4GB of dual-channel PC3200 DDR SDRAM. Hyper-Threading support and support for processors up to 3.4GHz is also provided by this motherboard. Like the 3.2E GHz Prescott chip we looked at earlier, the 3.4GHz Extreme Edition also requires the motherboard to
3.2GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition Asus P4G800-V
Stock Performance Overclocked Performance Processor Speed 3.2GHz N/A FSB 200MHz N/A Multiplier 16 N/A Voltage 1.475 N/A Processor Case Temp Temp 38.N/A N/A 3Dmark03 PCMark5239 N/A N/A PCMark04 PCMark04 PCMark04 PCMark04 CPU Memory Graphics HDD N/A N/A N/A N/A

means it uses the 13-micron (1.3 nanometer) fabrication process. Northwood has just half the L2 cache of Prescott, but it includes a special 2MB of L3 cache. The added cache makes a big difference when it comes to gaming and an even bigger difference when it comes to cost. Extreme Edition processors are the most expensive processors Intel has on the market.
seems 865G motherboards are harder to overclock and, in some instances, don't even allow users to increase the FSB. Unlike our last two 865G motherboards, the P4G800-V is a full-sized ATX board instead of a microATX board like the Biostar P4TSV and the ECS 865GM. While the latter boards are compatible with smaller cases, the P4G800-V provides more expansion options, including
conform to FMB 1.5 specifications. The FMB 1.5 specification provides more amperes to the processor (91A compared to 78A). Luckily, the P4G800-V meets FMB 1.5 requirements. The motherboard contained the latest BIOS update (1008) with support for our 3.2GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition first appearing in revision 1005. On the southbridge, the P4G800-V features an Intel ICH5, which supports up to
the 3.2GHz Prescott on the ECS 865G-M motherboard. Typically, the extra cache seems to have more of an impact on application benches such as 3Dmark03. In this case, however, PCMark04 scores seemed to be higher relative to the 3.2GHz Prescott on the 865G-M board. The Overall PCMark04 score of 5239 was more than 200 points better than the 5022 score posted by the 3.2GHz Prescott and the 4933 CPU score was more than Overclock 100 points higher than the Although the P4G800-V 4819 CPU score posted by the Ethernet ATX Power Connector supports our 3.2GHz Pentium Prescott. We did see a higher Controller BIOS Northbridge (865G) 4 Extreme Edition, the AMI than expected increase in the SATA Audio Codec BIOS lacked an option to Graphics score as we managed a Connector adjust the motherboard's FSB. 5647 with our 3.2GHz EE that Southbridge (ICH5) This was extremely disappointwas 190 points higher than our ing for an ASUS-branded 3.2GHz Prescott. The Memory motherboard as it prevented us from overscore showed only a slight improvement to clocking the board. 5090 from 5012 and the HDD score was The AMI BIOS is a little different from down slightly from 4305 to 4267. the Phoenix BIOS we've seen in motherWe've heard a lot about just how hot boards to this point. To access the setup Prescott runs. Our heat probes, of course, utility, we still pressed the DEL key during aren't in contact with the processor's core, POST. The layout of the BIOS, however, so our measurements are only an indirect the amount of system memory used for was very different. We navigated tabs indicator of the chip's heat. Comparing video memory in the Chipset section. across the top of the screen using the Left our default readings for Prescott processors Despite the lack of a FSB adjustment, and Right arrow keys and selected options with our readings for Northwood-based we went ahead and ran our benchmarks on the screen using the Up and Down Extreme Edition processors, however, to get an idea how the 3.2GHz Extreme arrow keys. Under the Main tab, there is a demonstrate just how much hotter Edition stacks up to its Prescott cousins submenu for system information. This Prescott runs. Our 3.2GHz Prescott's temin terms of performance. The P4G800-V screen provides the processor type and perature ranged from 41.2 degrees Celsius ran our Extreme Edition with a default clock speed, but there are no options to under load to 44.6 C. Under load, our voltage of 1.475V. 3Dmark03 returned a adjust or change the CPU or FSB speeds. 3.2GHz EE ran at 38.5 C. The Prescott somewhat disappointing 6311 score for Under the Advanced tab, there is a CPU system had an ambient case temperature of our 3.2GHz processor. This was 271 Configuration option, but again this proaround 30 C, while ambient case temperapoints less than the 6582 score posted by vides mostly information. The processor tures rested at around 28 C when running manufacturer, brand, frequency, multiplier our 3.2GHz Extreme Edition. Overclock Comparison status, and multiplier value are listed here. 3Dmark03 Final Word There are some useful settings in the Chipset section under the Advanced tab, The lack of overclocking options is a Chaintech 9CJS Zenith but again no option to modify the FSB. real disappointment, especially for an Stock Performance 6671 Overclocked Performance 6809 You can Disable Configure DRAM ASUS board. Nonetheless, our default Timing By SPD to manually adjust your scores provide an interesting glimpse as to Soyo SY-P4I865PE Plus Dragon 2 memory timings. Once disabled, you can how our Northwood-based Extreme Stock Performance 6292 Overclocked Performance 6379 adjust DRAM CAS# Latency, DRAM Edition fares compared to a newer procesRAS# Precharge, DRAM RAS# To CAS# sor running Intel's Prescott core. ASUS P4G800-V Delay, DRAM Precharge Delay, and Stock Performance 6311 Overclocked Performance N/A by Chad Denton DRAM Burst Length. You can also adjust eight USB 2.0 ports and two independent SATA 150 drives. The motherboard also supports two UDMA 100 IDE connectors (for a total of four devices). With chips being so inexpensive, it's hard to find a motherboard that doesn't include integrated audio and Ethernet. The Realtek ALC650 provides six channels of audio and the integrated Realtek 8101L Ethernet controller provides 10/100 Ethernet connectivity.