The latest round in the battle between Intel and AMD started last week when AMD launched their newest, fastest AthlonXP CPU at a speed rated at "2600+" (2.13 GHz clock speed).  Along with the 2400+, the new 2600 took everyone by surprise; unlike the first Thoroughbred release, it actually runs at temperatures people expected, and actually edged out the 2.53 GHz P4 in some tests.  AMD is currently enjoying their week on the top, but Intel is looking to bring that party to a crashing halt.

Unfortunately, we we not able to attain a 2600+ just yet, and in fact this 2.8 GHz P4 we are reviewing today just came in before the weekend.  I guess if a web site essentially takes a summer vacation, manufacturers start to forget they exist!

Well we're back just in time to review the 2.8 P4, and we do expect to get a 2600+ eventually, so we'll see what we can do with that when it comes.

A terrible picture, taken in haste before installing the CPU.  I've only had this thing for 2 days!

Aside from a clock speed increase, there is nothing really new to report about the 2.8 GHz.  It is being released today along with some other clock speeds, on the 533 MHz FSB we have a 2.66 Ghz, and on the now outdated 400 MHz FSB are the 2.5 and 2.6 MHz processors.  I'm not sure if Intel is going to release anything higher than 2.6 on the 400 MHz FSB platform.

One difference worth noting on the new processor is the heat it puts out.  Intel uses their own rating called "Thermal Design Power" and they make the figures available with each release.  The 2.53 GHz was the hottest Northwood P4 of all, running at a relatively cool 59.3W rating.  The 2.8 runs at 68.4W.  Quite the jump there, considering the jump from 2.26 to 2.53 was only about 3W!

Still, Intel is using the exact same heatsink they've always used on the 2Ghz+ Pentium 4's.  After a weekend of stress testing, I have seen no reason not to.  Of course if you are overclocking, that's a whole other story.

Testing

All benchmarks we use (that are publicly available) are available on our Downloads Page.

Testing Platform
CPU: Pentium 4 2.53, 2.80
Motherboard: Intel D850EMV2 (i850E)
Memory: 512MB Samsung PC800 RDRAM
Hard Drive: 30GB IBM 7200 RPM ATA100
Video Card: MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200
CDROM: Acer 52X CDROM
Ethernet: D-Link 530TX

OK let's get right to it!

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