Intel has released four processors based on its
90-nanometer Prescott core, the first major revision to its Pentium
4 processor in two years.
The chips are also Intel’s first 90-nanometer products to hit
the market.
The new processors arrived at 3.4GHz, 3.2GHz, 3GHz, and 2.8GHz,
speeds that overlap existing Pentium 4 processors.
Prescott’s smaller chip size also allows Intel to cut more chips
from a silicon wafer, reducing manufacturing costs per chip.
Most of the major PC companies - including Dell,
Hewlett-Packard, and Sony - will have models available with
the latest chips. Prescott is suited for both business and consumer
PCs, but contains 13 new instructions that help improve the
performance of multimedia applications such as video.
Intel envisions Prescott as the centrepiece of the digital home,
powering PCs such as the entertainment PC concept Intel unveiled at
the recent Consumer Electronics Show.
Other changes that come with Prescott include more Level 2
cache. Prescott has 1Mbyte of cache, up from the 512Kbytes found in
the Northwood Pentium 4 chips.
Intel aims to bring Prescott to 4GHz by the end of the year, and
is expected to discuss the next desktop processor on its roadmap,
codenamed Tejas.
The company will demonstrate a processor with 64-bit extensions
at its Spring Intel Developer Forum in two weeks' time, and
analysts speculated that Tejas might be the first processor to
incorporate those extensions.
There is also speculation among analysts and industry watchers
that Prescott contains 64-bit extensions that have been disabled
because software support has yet to arrive. Intel used a similar
strategy when it introduced hyperthreading into the desktop
world.
Tom Krazit writes for IDG News
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