The new crop of Pentium 4s, which will spawn a number of new desktop PC models, will include three chips based on a fresh processor design, code-named Prescott. Intel will add two new speed versions of its current Pentium 4, dubbed Northwood. A sixth Prescott Pentium 4, running at 3.4GHz will be announced on Monday, but it won't be available until later in the quarter.
The first Prescott chips will come out at speeds of 2.8GHz, 3GHz and 3.2GHz, Intel said. The chipmaker will distinguish Prescott chips from Northwoods by marking them with an "E." The chips -- with the exception of the 3.4EGHz -- will be available in systems on Monday. The 3.4EGHz is expected in March, a source familiar with Intel's plans said.
Intel's two new Northwood Pentium 4s will run at 3.4GHz. One version, a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition chip, will serve the uppermost reaches of the PC market, mainly game players and other PC enthusiasts. A standard 3.4GHz Northwood Pentium 4 will help to fill the gap until the 3.4EGHz Prescott chip arrives.
Intel often allows different generations of processors to overlap. The measure helps PC makers, especially those serving businesses, manage the transition from one generation to the next. This time, Pentium 4 Prescott and Northwood desktop chips will coexist at clock speeds ranging from 2.8GHz to 3.4GHz.
Prescott Pentium 4s will offer about the same performance as their Northwood counterparts, when measured at the same clock speeds, Intel said. A 3.2EGHz Prescott chip offered 14 percent more performance than a similar Northwood in a test produced by Intel.
But Prescott includes a number of updates and changes, such as 1MB of cache -- twice the size of Northwood -- and several new instructions, designed to increase the Pentium 4's multimedia savvy, Intel said.
The changes in Prescott's underlying circuitry will also help it reach much higher levels of performance and scale to greater clock speeds over time, Intel said. The Prescott Pentium 4 will reach 4GHz by the end of the year, said Bill Siu, general manager of Intel's Desktop Products Division.
"Our focus is really on the scalability of the product. What we've done... will enable us to scale it to much higher frequency," Siu said.
As expected, the rapid increase in clock speed will be aided by a longer, 31-stage pipeline, Siu confirmed.
As previously reported, Siu said the Prescott chip will take advantage of Intel's latest 90-nanometer manufacturing process, making it smaller, measuring 112 square millimeters versus Northwood's 132, and thus cheaper to produce.
Although Intel will offer a mix of the two chips at first, it plans to rapidly increase production of the Prescott Pentium 4, with the aim of proliferating the chip as quickly as possible. As part of that effort, Prescott Pentium 4 chips should end up priced very close to Northwood chips, making it easier for PC makers to make the switch. Intel often uses price as a tool to motivate PC makers to move to its new chips, analysts say.
Indeed, James Oliver, product marketing manager for HP's desktop PC products, had this to say: "If Prescott was higher priced, we'd probably still offer it, but given that [Intel] has priced it the same, it makes it easer for us to offer the better technology across the whole [desktop] line."
HP will offer Prescott chips in HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario desktops that are sold direct to customers, at first. It will start taking orders for them on Wednesday.
A Compaq Presario 6000T desktop, for example, will come with a 2.8EGHz Prescott chip, 256MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive and a CD-ROM for $749 (£411) before rebates, Oliver said.
Gateway will also offer Prescott Pentium 4s in its 510 and 710 desktops, without raising its prices. A 510G desktop will feature a 2.8EGHz Prescott and start at $1,099, the company said.
Dell will fit some of the new chips into its Dimension desktops and also won't up prices. Its Dimension XPS game machine will be offered with either the 3.2EGHz Pentium 4, the 3.4GHz Northwood Pentium 4 or the 3.4GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. With the 3.2EGHz chip, the machine will start at $1,799.
Dell will offer the 3.4GHz Northwood Pentium 4 on its Dimension 8300 at first, and will add the 3EGHz and 3.2EGHz Prescott chips by the middle of February, the company said. The 3.4GHz Dimension will start near $1,350.
A number of other PC makers, ranging from IBM to Micro Centre, will add desktops with Prescott chips as well.
