P4 3.0E Ghz--Whats the E mean?

Broadkipa

Senior member
Dec 18, 2000
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I am looking to buy a P4 cpu 3GHz or upwards and have found that some have a E after the speed rating, I have trawled Intels web site and nowhere do they explain what the differance is. Now the only differance I can see is 1Mb cache instead of 512K, what makes me wonder if this is the only differance is that the E ver is cheaper than the non-E version, both are748 socket, what am I missing here?
 

FullRoast

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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E = Prescott processor vs C = Northwood (earlier P4 version)

See this article for details.

Depending on what you are looking for, the older Northwood P4 3.0C might be a better choice than a Prescott P4 3.0E. The Northwood processors tend to overclock better, run cooler, and are actually faster on some benchmarks (by a small margin). The Prescotts can be had in the new 775 pin version. If you want the latest, get the Prescott. If you overclock, think about getting the Northwood. If you don't care, get the cheapest.
 

Mik3y

Banned
Mar 2, 2004
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unless you can overclock the prescott to mad speeds at 3.6ghz, then it'll be faster then the northwood at that speed (as i have been told somewhere). then again, you would need water cooling. since the prescotts run hotter, its more difficult to get a good overclock on air.
 

GhandiInstinct

Senior member
Mar 1, 2004
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What's Intel thinking, releasing a CPU with twice the cache of the last model and it's slower? Someone make sense of this. Now they are mass supplying these Prescotts, with the road map not showing any new Northwoods. Is AMD my only choice now?
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
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E is an F. As in failure or fusked up.

It's a CPU that chews up about twice the power of its hammer competitor to and about 30% more than C. It's slower than the C. And to cool it, you almost need a degree in cryogenics.

Stay away.
 

MiniDoom

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2004
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Don?t believe all the haters, my 2.8e@3.15 idles at 100f and runs no hotter than 120f on retail cooling. Although AMD is probably a better choice.
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
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Originally posted by: rdubbz420
Don?t believe all the haters, my 2.8e@3.15 idles at 100f and runs no hotter than 120f on retail cooling. Although AMD is probably a better choice.

Yup, people like to exagerate. The Prescott runs about 10-15w hotter than the Northwood. THis is much hotter than the AMD64, but it's really not a huge deal.

That being said, if I were upgrading to a new motherboard\processor, it would be A64 right now. 915 w/ Prescott just isn't as fast, at anything. If, however, I was looking to juice up an 865\875 board, I'd consider a high end Prescott.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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To actually answer the question, E stands for Enhanced, as it did with the Coppermine Pentium3's when they coincided with Katmai P3's at the same clockspeed. But I'd buy a Northwood-C if I had to choose between Prescott and Northwood at 800MHz FSB. Lower power demands, generally better performance, quite overclockable, and wider compatibility... sounds like a good combo to me.
 

Broadkipa

Senior member
Dec 18, 2000
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Thanks for all the replys, with the info gained from this post and a bit more research I have gone for the 3.0GHz northwood. This and a new motherboard and 1Gbyte off ddr ram should give my pc a bit of a perfomance boost:D
 

StrangerGuy

Diamond Member
May 9, 2004
8,443
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Originally posted by: Broadkipa
Thanks for all the replys, with the info gained from this post and a bit more research I have gone for the 3.0GHz northwood. This and a new motherboard and 1Gbyte off ddr ram should give my pc a bit of a perfomance boost:D

:thumbsup::D:beer:
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
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An A64 and motherboard would have smoked a P4 w/ a 3ghz northwood for less money. :confused:
 

Gamingphreek

Lifer
Mar 31, 2003
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Buy an E if you are going to OC the hell outta it. If you were to buy the prescott core then here is what ya need.
Water Cooling, or Phase Change cooling, preferably phase change. And if your really die hard liquid nitrogen, or dry ice. If you get this people have reached incredible OCs with the prescotts as they are meant to run at speeds around 4-5Ghz. If you get it that high it will probably beat an AMD system however it would probably be marginal, and it would cost mucuh more.

Stay with the C's or go with AMD.
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
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Originally posted by: zenwhen
Originally posted by: Nebor
An A64 and motherboard would have smoked a P4 w/ a 3ghz northwood for less money. :confused:

Not everyone is looking for a goddamned Athlon.

Because who would want a chip that is:
a) cheaper
b) cooler
c) better at EVERYTHING. Literally. It beats the p4 in absolutely everything. Gaming, encoding, rendering, etc.

I'm sorry, but the only way you could convince me that you needed a P4 is if you needed a motherboard with PCI-Express.... But even THAT is a moot point, because for the money you'd spend on a 915i motherboard and p4 prescott, you could buy a new socket AMD64 motherboard w/ PCI-Express and an A64....

So, what do you have to say?
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
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Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Buy an E if you are going to OC the hell outta it. If you were to buy the prescott core then here is what ya need.
Water Cooling, or Phase Change cooling, preferably phase change. And if your really die hard liquid nitrogen, or dry ice. If you get this people have reached incredible OCs with the prescotts as they are meant to run at speeds around 4-5Ghz. If you get it that high it will probably beat an AMD system however it would probably be marginal, and it would cost mucuh more.

Stay with the C's or go with AMD.

You don't know what you're talking about. You are truly a clueless parrot. The Prescott is 10-15w hotter than a Northwood is. When you're dealing w/ 100+ watts, it's not really a huge deal.