A rare Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 980 processor, never released to the public, has recently been discovered, revealing a hidden piece of Intel’s history.
A Forgotten Gem from Intel’s NetBurst Era
Found this Intel Extreme Edition 980 Engineering Sample, Anyone have information on it?
byu/diegunguyman inintel
This 4.0 GHz chip, based on the 65 nm Presler architecture, was identified by an enthusiast who shared detailed photos and a CPU-Z screenshot confirming its specifications. However, the software couldn’t fully validate it since it’s an engineering sample.
The Pentium Extreme Edition 980 is a dual-core processor with support for Hyper-Threading, allowing it to handle four threads simultaneously. Despite its high 4.0 GHz clock speed, it never reached the market — suggesting it was intended for internal testing or employee use only. The lack of official documentation and the handwritten markings on the chip reinforce this theory, showing that it was never a commercial product.
This discovery is significant because the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 980 represents one of the final versions of Intel’s NetBurst line, which dominated desktop processors in the early 2000s. Although the chip was never officially launched, its existence demonstrates how far Intel pushed the limits of its architecture before transitioning to more efficient designs like Core.
The Pentium Extreme Edition 980, though never used commercially, has become a valuable piece for collectors and vintage computing enthusiasts.
