The Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 was a desktop processor with 2 cores, launched in December 2005, at an MSRP of $999. It is part of the Pentium Extreme Edition lineup, using the Presler architecture with Socket 775. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 4 threads. Pentium Extreme Edition 955 has 2 MB of L2 cache per core and operates at 3.466 GHz. Intel is building the Pentium Extreme Edition 955 on a 65 nm production process using 376 million transistors. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Pentium Extreme Edition 955, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 130 W, the Pentium Extreme Edition 955 consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. Intel's processor supports DDR1, DDR2 and DDR3 memory with a dual-channel interface. Actual memory technology support depends on the chosen motherboard, because the memory controller is located on the motherboard (not in the processor). For communication with other components in the machine, Pentium Extreme Edition 955 uses a PCI-Express N/A connection. Although the processor doesn't come with integrated graphics, certain motherboards with compatible chipsets can provide this capability.
The SSE4 instruction set is not supported, which can cause problems with modern games, as they require that capability. Hardware virtualization is available on the Pentium Extreme Edition 955, which greatly improves virtual machine performance.