Date:
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Author:
Kyle Bennett
Editor:
Steve Lynch
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Overclocking the Prescott 2.4A

The Pentium 4 2.4A CPU comes through with shining results in our overclocking tests. No fooling!

Introduction

When the Pentium 4 processor's new 90nm "Prescott" core was introduced to us, Intel outlined an entire line-up of new CPU SKUs. As we always tend to look at things from an enthusiast standpoint, there was one that really caught our eye. This CPU was the Pentium 4 "2.8A". It was a Prescott CPU with a 533MHz (Quad Pumped 133MHz) Front Side Bus. It was however missing Intel HyperThreading technology.

When we asked specifically about this CPU's planned market availability, we were told some things that did not make us too hopeful about the 2.8A being available to enthusiasts in the North American retail market. It was slated to be an OEM-only CPU that would only be brought to market if the need was defined.

Now fast forward to a few weeks ago when we saw the “2.4A” show up in Intel packaged retail box form. This is a CPU that was never mentioned to us and, to my knowledge, never been “officially” launched by Intel or at least with any fanfare. But do be certain that this CPU is destined to become another favorite for Intel enthusiasts.

All 2.4As Not the Same

One very important issue that can be confusing needs to be mentioned here. The Prescott 2.4A is not the same as the previous “2.4A” Northwood CPU that is still for sale in retail channels. Should you decide to buy a 2.4A and want the same spec CPU that is used for this article, you will want to purchase a CPU that is the SL7E8 specification. As of writing this, the SL7E8 is the only Prescott core 2.4A available.

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Looking at the above box label from a Prescott 2.4A retail package you can see the S Spec # noted at the end of the Product Code. We have changed the color of the SL# so that it will stand out to you. This is a quick and easy way to check any CPU made by Intel as the S Spec # is engraved onto the Pentium 4 CPU heatspreader as well.

The Prescott 2.4A

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On this CPU you will see noted that it is an Intel processor of the Pentium 4 family. This CPU is guaranteed to operate at 2.4GHz (18*133), has 1MB of L2 cache, and uses a 533MHz FSB (133*4). The multiplier for this CPU is “18” and is locked as are other Intel Pentium 4 CPUs. This means that we cannot change the multiplier like is easily done on many AMD CPUs. This barrier, mainly put in place to discourage the remarking and fraudulent selling of those CPUs, forces us to use the modification of the Front Side Bus along with core voltage tweaks in order to overclock our CPU.