Intel Corp. has not have an alternative to AMD's Athlon 64 microprocessors with 64-bit capability and power-saving technology for about year and a half. Although there are very few applications that could benefit from 64-bit processing, a power-saving technology could reduce Intel's latest Prescott processors?power consumption in at least a number of tasks, making systems on their base a bit quieter. Now, customers of Intel Corp. are getting the long-anticipated technologies along with higher performance with the new Intel Pentium 4 processors 600-series powered by the Prescott 2M core.

“Now Intel is evidently undertaking a new attempt to catch up with the competitor. Larger L2 cache memory of the new Prescott 2M processor should speed up their performance. And the introduction of the new Enhanced Memory 64 Technology and Enhanced Intel SpeedStep in the new Pentium 4 6XX CPUs can be regarded as Intel's response to AMD64 and Cool’n’Quiet implemented in Athlon 64,? Ilya Gavrichenkov wrote in his review.

“The 600 series is more about feature set than performance…The new 600 series isn't as much of a step forward in performance as it is a step sideways for Intel. As the 600 series core will be the one on which dual core chips are based, it does make sense for Intel to introduce power saving features and a larger cache. Our advice is to look at your favorite application and pick the part that offers the performance you need at the best price. For those who need EIST and EMT64 now, even though there is a price premium, performance under the 600 series is generally on par with (or better than) the 500 series,?claimed AnandTech reviewers.

• AnandTech: Intel Pentium 4 6xx and 3.73EE: Favoring Features Over Performance.
• Beyond3D: Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz Review.
• Hard Tecs 4U: Pentium 4 6xx-Familie und 3.73 Extreme Edition (in German).
• Hexus.net: Intel's Prescott-2M Pentium 4 660 and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz.
• K-Hardware: Pentium 4 660 & EE 3.73 GHz im Test (German).
• Legit Reviews: Intel 6xx Series Processors Arrive.
• TweakTown: Intel 64-bit Desktop.
• Viperlair.com: Intel 6xx Series Overview.
• : Intel Pentium 4 6XX and Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz CPU Review.