Intel i925X and i915G Architecture, Pentium 4 560 and 3.4GHz EE - The LGA775 Debut

Intel's new LGA775 package design for the Pentium 4 significantly enhances available power and ground distribution amongst the IO pins on the processor.  This allows for much more stable operation at higher clock speeds and the package itself has significantly better thermal power dissipation.

New Intel LGA775 Processors - P4 560 and P4 EE 3.4GHz New package, more robust power and ground, better thermals

LGA775 or PGA775? -
On another front, many have speculated that the new LGA775 and its companion motherboard socket, would prove to be a less than sturdy design to work with, and perhaps more cumbersome as well.  We'll set the record straight here, in our humble opinion.  If care is taken during placement of the CPU in the socket, we feel the CPU package and socket itself will actually be significantly more durable over time, than say a 775 Pin Grid Array approach to this new CPU.  The pins on the package "land" on the underside of the CPU and make contact with the grid of pads on its substrate.  This is a significantly more elegant approach in our opinion.  When the clamshell cap is subsequently clamped down over the processor, your CPU is going nowhere in that socket and with the keyed design of the socket and CPU, you can't make a mistake on which way it should be oriented.

Ever try to pull a socket 478 heatsink, that has had a solid base of thermal grease applied during mounting, after it has been installed for months on end?  We've bent and broken pins off more than one processor over time, when the CPU gets ripped out of the socket due to being glued to the backside of the heatsink.  This problem is a thing of the past with the LGA775 design and its companion socket.  

Of course, Intel now also gets the benefit of higher yields and less fall-out due to damaged pins in the manufacturing and package processes.  Unfortunately, motherboard manufacturers now have the responsibility of keeping all those pins safe from damage and assuming higher fall-out rates due to potential socket damage.

• Pentium 4 500 Series Processors - P4 560, 550, 540, 530 and 520
• Clock speeds starting at 3.6GHz, 3.4GHz, 3.2GHz,  3GHz, and 2.8GHz
• New .09 micron "Strained SI" manufacturing process
• Improved Hyperthreading Technology
• 1MB on chip, Full Speed L2 Cache
• Increased 16KB L1 Data Cache
• Streaming SIMD Extensions - SSE2 and 13 new SSE3 Instructions
• 31 stage "Hyper Pipelined" Technology for extremely high clock speeds
• 800MHz "Quad Pumped" Front Side Bus
• Rapid Execution Engine - ALU clocked at 2X frequency of core
• 128bit Floating Point/Multimedia unit
• Intel "NetBurst" micro-architecture
• Supported by the Intel i925X and i915 chipsets, with Hyperthreading support
• Intel MMX media enhancement technology
• Memory cacheability up to 4 GB of addressable memory space and system memory scalability up to 64 GB of physical memory
• 1.25 - 1.4V operating voltage range
• LGA775 Packaging - Land Grid Array
• 89 - 115 Watts TPD (Thermal Design Power

Here we see Intel's new branding convention for the Prescott core Pentium 4 processor.  In a bold move, Intel is stepping out and going against their historic stance versus rival AMD, where processor branding is not directly indicative of clock speed.  For years Intel called AMD's performance rating misleading to the consumer, charging clock speeds as the proper and fair way to brand a CPU.  This all changes now, with the introduction of the LGA775 based Prescott at 3.6GHz.  While Intel isn't using performance ratings to brand their parts, they are moving to model numbers rather than clock speeds for their branding nomenclature.

Intel's move to a model numbering system was spawned by their need to spotlight performance and feature parity with the mobile Pentium-M, whose core will eventually be the basis for Intel's desktop processors.  Although the Pentium-M currently runs at lower clock speeds than Intel's desktop processors, they offer comparable performance levels.

• Pentium 4 Extreme Edition Processor
• Clock speeds of 3.2GHz and 3.4GHz
• .13 micron manufacturing process
• Hyperthreading Technology
• 512kB on chip, Full Speed L2 Cache
• 8KB L1 Data Cache
• Streaming SIMD Extensions - SSE2 Only
• 20 stage "Hyper Pipelined" Technology
• 800MHz "Quad Pumped" Front Side Bus
• Rapid Execution Engine - ALU clocked at 2X frequency of core
• 128bit Floating Point/Multimedia unit
• Intel "NetBurst" micro-architecture
• Supported by the Intel i925X and i915 chipsets, with Hyperthreading support
• Intel MMX media enhancement technology
• Memory cacheability up to 4 GB of addressable memory space and system memory scalability up to 64 GB of physical memory
• 1.525 - 1.6V operating voltage range
• LGA775 Packaging - Land Grid Array
• 89 Watts TPD (Thermal Design Power)

There's not much new to report here with the new LGA775 Pentium 4 Extreme Edition at 3.4GHz.  It's the same high end CPU core in a much better package, however.