Conclusions
I said in my review of the Extreme Edition 955 a few months ago that Intel wouldn't likely catch up to AMD using processors based on the NetBurst microarchitecture. My faith in that prediction has been shaken somewhat by the Extreme Edition 965's combination of overclocking headroom and reduced power draw. This CPU is still no match for the Athlon 64 FX-60—or even the Athlon 64 X2 4800+—when running at its default 3.73GHz clock speed. But this puppy is a powerful reminder of the benefits better process technology can bring. For its mission in life as a thousand-dollar play-toy that will serve as the centerpiece of an ultra-high-end PC, likely with exotic cooling and extensive overclocking, the Extreme Edition 965 is a startlingly worthy rival to the Athlon 64 FX-60. That mission isn't exactly a populist one, and the 965's virtues don't put Intel's other desktop processors on par with the Athlon 64 X2 in the meatier, more value-driven part of the market. For high-rent PCs, though, the 965 has undeniable appeal—not that I recommend dropping a grand on a processor. My Midwestern sensibilities would never condone such madness.

Intel also plans to bump up the regular Pentium D to 3.6GHz with the release of the Pentium D 960. Had I known that sooner, I'd have disabled Hyper-Threading and underclocked the Extreme Edition 965 in order to provide some performance numbers for it. Unfortunately, I found out too late, so we'll have to look at the Pentium D 960 in a future article. Intel also hasn't yet set pricing on the 960, so I can't comment on its likely mix of price and performance.

The Extreme Edition 965 is almost certainly one of the last of its kind before the sun sets on the NetBurst microarchitecture and on the Pentium name, believe it or not. It's also the best of its breed, as is expected in the ever-progressing world of microprocessors. Already, though, most of our attention is focused intently on the promise of what comes next: a new microarchitecture with much higher performance per clock and per watt than this one. Given what Intel's 65nm fab process has been able to do for the Extreme Edition 965, AMD may have one heck of a fight on its hands if the upcoming Core microarchitecture is anywhere near reasonably competent.