Pentium 4 Extreme Edition was released on november 2003 and was the first desktop CPU to carry an integrated L3 memory cache. This processor has 2 MB of L3 memory cache accessed under the CPU internal clock. The first Pentium 4 Extreme Edition Models were based on the Gallatin core, which had 512 KB of L2 memory cache and 2 MB of L3 memory cache, ran externally at 800 MHz or 1,066 MHz (200 MHz or 266 MHz transferring four data per clock cycle, respectively), SSE2 instruction set, 64-bit extensions, HyperThreading technology, 0.13 µm manufacturing process and 178 million transistors. Pentium 4 Extreme Edition models available today are based on Prescott 2M core, which is manufactured using 90 nm process. Below you can compare Prescott core (used by regular Pentium 4 processors) with Prescott 2M core (used by Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors).
click to enlarge Figure 4: Prescott core.
click to enlarge Figure 5: Prescott 2M core.
While Prescott core has 125 million transistors, Prescott 2M core has 169 million. This difference goes to the 2 MB L2 memory cache that exists on Prescott 2M.
So far Intel has released only one Pentium 4 Extreme Edition based on Prescott 2M core. This processor has 2MB L2 memory cache, SSE3 instruction set, HyperThreading technology and 64-bit extensions.
Below we list all Pentium 4 Extreme Edition models launched so far.