Intel's Pentium Extreme Edition 965: The Last of a Dying Breed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 22, 2006 1:51 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Looking Ahead, the Conroe Comparison
Intel was well aware of what it was doing when it showed off Conroe at IDF, and it knew that there's no way that we could recommend the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 when Conroe was a little over a quarter away. If you need more of a reminder of why it will only help to wait, here are a few of the Conroe tests that we were able to run at IDF, which we duplicated on our systems here (same test configuration, test files and hardware):
But if you absolutely must spend $1000+ on a CPU today, what should you do? While the 965 has become a lot more competitive with the FX-60, our overall nod still goes to AMD. The 965 does have its strengths in 3dsmax and video encoding, so if those are areas in which you are partcularly looking for stellar performance, then the recommendation obviously swings to Intel.
With AMD's Socket-AM2 right around the corner, and Conroe not too far away, we honestly can't recommend anything but a low cost CPU today to avoid virtually immediate obsolescence. And we'll be telling you exactly what low cost CPU that would be sometime next week...
Intel was well aware of what it was doing when it showed off Conroe at IDF, and it knew that there's no way that we could recommend the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 when Conroe was a little over a quarter away. If you need more of a reminder of why it will only help to wait, here are a few of the Conroe tests that we were able to run at IDF, which we duplicated on our systems here (same test configuration, test files and hardware):
But if you absolutely must spend $1000+ on a CPU today, what should you do? While the 965 has become a lot more competitive with the FX-60, our overall nod still goes to AMD. The 965 does have its strengths in 3dsmax and video encoding, so if those are areas in which you are partcularly looking for stellar performance, then the recommendation obviously swings to Intel.
With AMD's Socket-AM2 right around the corner, and Conroe not too far away, we honestly can't recommend anything but a low cost CPU today to avoid virtually immediate obsolescence. And we'll be telling you exactly what low cost CPU that would be sometime next week...
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asliarun - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
"Can´t belive Anand is promoting a CPU that will not be launched in next 6 months."What is wrong with reviewing a CPU that isn't in the market today, anyway? Isn't that why you and me visit hardware review sites anyway? In any case, this article is a benchmark/evaluation, NOT a promotion. Ironically, the final recommendation by Anand is NOT to buy the friggin CPU, so i don't see which way this article can be termed a "promotion".
Jeez, give the author some respect.
Ok, you're not a fanboi, and nor am i. Yes, we all know that AMD's performance today is better by a decent margin. However, what's with the flamewars about Conroe benchies not being done in an "ideal" setting, or even with this review? Ok, the Conroe benchmark wasn't totally under the reviewers' control, but give the authors a break, man. Are you telling me that all the reviewers who managed to review Conroe didn't smell anything fishy (if indeed there was something?)? Please think a few times before trashing someone's reputation, especially because they've spent years toiling for it. All it takes us to trash it, on the other hand, is a few clicks.
dev0lution - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
I don't know why they continue to slap an Extreme Edition label on the models lately, unless they mean "the extreme limits of what we can do with this architecture".I would have hoped a processor with a higher clock, 65nm process and twice the cache would bench better and be more power efficient than the FX-60.
mino - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - link
there are at least 10 cases where 965 shows unreasonably high score compared to 955.The is something fishy here. These score are either fake(surely not) or the margin of error is so huge it makes no sense to publish them.
It's not OK whem from 7% or so frequency bump on the CPU one gets 15% performance bum in Game !!!
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - link
The F.E.A.R. numbers for the 955 were incorrect, I've fixed the errors. Thanks for the heads up :)Take care,
Anand
mino - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - link
bum == bumpKeithTalent - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - link
Should I assume the three FEAR charts are at different resolutions even though they all show at 1024x768. Or maybe I am missing something else altogether?AnandThenMan - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - link
You know, putting Conroe benchmarks in there is pretty lame. Firstly, Controe cannot be purchased by ANYONE. Secondly, this is not a review of Conroe, period.Why not put in some other speculative benches in, like an overclocked X2 etc. I don't care how fast Conroe actually ends up being. Tacking on the Conroe benches at the end smacks of Intel brown nosing. Reviews are about current products we can all actually purchase. Very unprofessional.
Houdani - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
You know, Anand was doing all of us a favor by showing us Intel's latest offering, and then going the extra mile to show us why it would be a poor decision to actually buy one. Anand's point was simply to keep in mind that (to the best of everyone's knowledge) Conroe will very likely shame this PEE965 offering. He used one Intel product to spit upon another Intel product.You call that brown nosing? What an absurd notion.
krwilsonn - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - link
Considering that if Conroe is as great as it is supposed to be, in a few months you will be looking at those same benchmarks and Intel will then have the lead. Since this is likely the case, why not include it? Because it is Intel? Aren't we determining the FASTEST cpu? If that is likely to change in the near future than it is to everyone's benefit to point that out.redbone75 - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - link
I think the review did what it was supposed to do, and that was compare the latest EE to the best AMD has to offer. While Anand traditionally doesn't include hardware that can't be purchased at present, please remember that the 965 won't be out until April. Would you have preferred we not have this review at all? Furthermore, including comparisons to Conroe were more for the purpose of reminding prospective buyers of the EE what will be on the horizon, not to show Conroe's dominance over all available processors, AMD or otherwise. I'm dying to build a new rig right now, but I know I will suffer an acute case of buyer's remorse once Conroe is available in some few short months and a much better chip is available for the price range I'm looking at.