The Intel 'Extreme Edition' CPUs fetch astronomical price tags (US$999 or even more) and are largely identical to the upper mainstream CPUs (which cost considerably less).
The (serious) problem with the 'Extreme Edition' CPUs is that they become obsolete very quickly. For example, the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (a Pentium D @ 3.73GHz with hyper threading) cost US$999 back in March 2006. Just 18 months later, a PC user can get similar performance with only a Pentium Dual Core E2160 (which cost only US$89)! And the Pentium Dual Core E2160 runs much cooler and has significantly greater overclocking potential (despite it's multiplier being locked) than the Pentium Extreme Edition 965!
The exorbitant prices, along with quick depreciation and only a marginal increase in performance make the 'Extreme Edition' CPUs not worth your money. This is my opinion on the super-costly CPUs from Intel.
The (serious) problem with the 'Extreme Edition' CPUs is that they become obsolete very quickly. For example, the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (a Pentium D @ 3.73GHz with hyper threading) cost US$999 back in March 2006. Just 18 months later, a PC user can get similar performance with only a Pentium Dual Core E2160 (which cost only US$89)! And the Pentium Dual Core E2160 runs much cooler and has significantly greater overclocking potential (despite it's multiplier being locked) than the Pentium Extreme Edition 965!
The exorbitant prices, along with quick depreciation and only a marginal increase in performance make the 'Extreme Edition' CPUs not worth your money. This is my opinion on the super-costly CPUs from Intel.