Pentium 4 3.46 Extreme Edition and 925XE: 1066MHz FSB Support is Here
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 31, 2004 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Intel D925XECV2: Enthusiast Options
The new Intel 925XE includes adjustments for memory timings, memory speeds, memory voltage, and CPU FSB adjustments. These options are well-hidden in the Intel BIOS, but they are much more complete than you might expect on an Intel board.
The Main menu provides system information, but there is little indication of what is lurking inside the Intel BIOS. The real action for the Enthusiast is in the Advanced menu.
In the Advanced menu are the options to adjust PCI, Boot, Peripheral, Drive, Floppy, Video, USB, etc. The main controls for the Enthusiast are found in the Chipset Configuration menu
Chipset Configuration includes two important sub-menus - Burn-In Mode and memory
Continue and Extended Burn-In Mode should be enabled. You can then select Host Burn-In Mode.
Host Burn-In Mode now reveals an adjustment range of -2% to 10% in 1% increments. With a base frequency of 266 or 1066FSB, this is an adjustment range of 1045 FSB to 1173 FSB in 10.66MHz increments. While this is a very limited range compared to the average Enthusiast board, it is certainly a beginning for Enthusiast controls on an Intel board.
PCI speed can be adjusted form the default 33.33 to 36.36 and 40.0.
PCI Express also has an adjustment range from the default 100 to around 110 in 1.32Mhz increments.
Returning to Chipset Configuration, the Memory sub-menu has a wide range of memory adjustments.
After selecting Manual-User Defined you can select memory timings. This includes CAS Latency (tCL), RAS-to-CAS Delay, tRP., and tRAS.
DDR2 Memory Speed can be adjusted to base frequencies of 266, 333, 400, 533, and 667.
It was particularly surprising to find a reasonable range of memory voltage adjustments in the Intel BIOS. The available range is from default 1.8V to 2.1V. this is wide enough to allow many DDR533 rated DDR2 dimms to run at DDR667 or faster.
There are just two major controls missing for the Enthusiast. There is no option in the BIOS that we could find to adjust the base CPU frequency. If this could be forced to lower standard speeds such as 200 (800), there would be much more flexibility available for controlling the CPU. There is also no provision for CPU voltage, which is becoming less important as processor operating voltages have decreased. Our test CPU did have limited multiplier adjustments of 12X-13X but we do not know if shipping 1066 processors will also have this feature.
We could wish for wider ranges on several options, but the good news is this Intel board does contain the kind of tweaking controls Enthusiasts have been asking for from Intel.
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T8000 - Thursday, November 4, 2004 - link
The most important part of this release is the Intel 925XE chipset, that will allow much higher overclocks because of its 1066 bus support.This is because the 925XE will have the right divider to reach 1066 without any PCI-E overclock.
So with a 925XE mainboard, you can run an Intel 530 CPU at 4Ghz with any PCI-E GPU you choose, because only the CPU will be overclocked and Prescott has excellent chances of reaching 4Ghz with modest water cooling or good air cooling.
Odeen - Wednesday, November 3, 2004 - link
Realtek codec on an Intel board... and here I thought Intel actually made quality motherboards, which entails Sigmatel or Soundmax onboard audio chips.Sigh :(
johnsonx - Wednesday, November 3, 2004 - link
Slim: You're right... my bad. I didn't read every single page. I read the couple of introductory pages, then skipped to the test configuration page, perused a few benches, and then skipped to the conclusion.The measured results of course are no different than I thought they would be...
bob661 - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - link
We need to have our own review website called www.dontreleasesh!tunlessitsactuallyabetterproductthan theonebeforeit.com.SLIM - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - link
johnsonx,Anand did isolate the fsb as the sole variable when he DOWNclocked both chips to 3.2ghz (266 x 12 and 200 x 16) on page 3. There was a slight caveat that faster chips would benefit more from a fsb boost. And yes the faster bus increased performance by almost 1% in some tests woohoo!!!
SLIM
johnsonx - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - link
One thing that might've been interesting to see:Overclock the 3.4EE to 3.46Ghz by OC'ing the FSB to 203Mhz or 204Mhz (812 & 816 respectively). This would completely isolate the effect if the increased clock speed of the 3.46EE, showing only the increased FSB performance... at that point I suspect that the tiny performance gains would completely evaporate.
Mind you, I'm not suggesting this would change the conclusion much, but it would put a big exclamation point to it...
BTW, one does have to wonder why Intel bothered with this. If the 3.46EE/925XE combo is no faster than the 3.4EE/925X combo (I'm assuming the 925X=925XE @800FSB), then why go through all the trouble? Indeed, isn't it true that an 'old' 3.4EE/875 combo is faster still?
Good grief, at least when AMD releases a new top-end chip it is actually measurably faster. Regardless of whether the rating is 'earned' or not, no one can argue that the 4000 isn't (generally) faster than the 3800, nor that the FX-55 isn't faster than any other A64.
Tides - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - link
Some benchmarks? Hardly. AMD owns in actual games, workstation apps, and half of the other stuff. Not to mention AMD doesn't make you upgrade to ddr2, and AMD cpus are 64bit. Intel's new chips have low shelf lives while the current AMD 64's you buy will last you a lot longer.Performance, realiability, and long lasting.
danidentity - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - link
IntelUser2000, you couldn't possibly be any more wrong. I will be the first to admit that AMD chips excel above Intel chips in many benchmarks.However:
1. Intel is no where near dead. Calling them so is ridiculous. In Q3 of this year Intel posted revenue of 8.5 billion compared to AMD's 1.2 billion, or SEVEN times as much.
2. AMD is NOT closing "very rapidly" in marketshare. It would appear that way from reading sites and forums like these, but it gives you a false impression. Keep in mind that the largest supplier of PCs on the planet puts Intel chips in every machine. AMD's mobile chips can't compete with the Pentium M in terms of performance and functionality.
3. Intel is not stupid, they have some of the best engineers on the planet. If they seriously thought that AMD was going to topple them as the market leader, or even if they are predicting it, you can GUARANTEE they have something in the works to strike back. They have the means and the money.
4. While many people don't know exactly what clockspeed is, everyone thinks it is the ultimate measure of performance. That mindset will take a LONG time to change, and by then, Intel will have something new.
Most people out there don't even know AMD exists. Just because AMD chips beat Intel chips in some benchmarks posted on technical computer sites, don't mean they're going to topple Intel.
JonahStone - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - link
Performance is not the only reason why somebody buys a CPU. Although 64 bit might not be available now, does not make it unimportant. Many who buy a computer will keep it for a long time. I do not want to buy a new PC in a year's time to run 64 bit apps. All reviews keep on comparing 32 bit performance and do not even mention the advantage 64 bit will bring. It does matter!!!!!!!IntelUser2000 - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
Intel is not doing bad. They are doing terrible. So terrible that you might as well call them dead. Probably will last till 2009 before they fill bankruptcy.To those people who say people in forums don't know anything and that there are other people stupid enough to buy Intel chips(I mean all Intel chips): Uhh, yeah, get your head straight, since AMD is closing with Intel very rapidly in marketshare, in server, desktop, and laptop, and that means that gamers actually do make a difference(albeit slowly) making other people buy computers. You think other people will buy P4's because of high clock speed? That's BS, since people who is stupid enough to buy Intel chips don't even know what clock speeds does. There are only a very few that knows computers JUST enough to say clock speed is good.