Pentium 4 Reaches the Speed Limit

[svk]

Pentium 4 Reaches the Speed Limit
Processor at 3.8GHz may mark the end of Intel's speed race.

As expected, Intel has introduced a 3.8GHz Pentium 4 processor in what could represent the end of an era for the chip maker.

The Pentium 4 570 processor at 3.8GHz will have the fastest clock speed of any processor available from Intel for an indefinite period. Intel has decided to cancel a planned 4GHz Pentium 4 processor and improve the performance of its desktop chips by adding cache memory.

Intel originally designed the Pentium 4 processor to run at faster and faster clock speeds and for years planned its marketing campaigns around those increases in clock speed. However, this year the company realized that the engineering resources required to eke out additional speed gains could be put to better use. The most recent Pentium 4 processors consume a great deal of power and can produce excessive heat within a PC, requiring additional testing and validation before they can be released.



Other Paths
Adding cache memory to processors is a cooler and easier way to improve processor performance, Intel said last month. Cache memory stores frequently used data close to the processor where it can be accessed much faster than data stored in the main memory chips. Starting in early 2005, Intel's Pentium 4 chips will receive an additional 1MB of cache memory, bringing the total to 2MB.

Intel's dual-core processors are scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2005. They will run at slower clock speeds than existing single-core processors. Analysts believe that Intel might keep a low-end single-core processor in its product lineup heading into 2006 and bring that chip above 4GHz at some point in the future, but Intel has not confirmed any plans to release faster chips.

The Pentium 4 570 processor will be available in Hewlett-Packard's Compaq X 5010T Gaming PC starting on Wednesday. Dell also plans to offer the processor for its Dimension XPS gaming PC.

source: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118603,00.asp

Not quite, Alienware were able to push it to 4 GHz level

Although officially it has reached the speed limit

[tuxly]

better and a welcome move, now with more cache we would c our pc's running faster

[cooljeba]

what's next now


..:: peace ::..
Jeba

[djmykey]

Waitin for 64-bit desktop prccys from Intel.

[club_pranay]

wondrin' what they r up to lately!!!

i hve heard that some one os developing processor of speed more than 20 ghz .. and it was in the digit only . i dont remember exact speed but it was very higher than intel and technology was of light transister ..

i think thts a gr8 step for looking to improve performance rather than speed... as said slow and steady wins the race... if intel can get its processor more steady.. then it aboviosly would be the only preference of processor..

[perk_bud]

I thought DIGIT once had a article which mentioned that IBM has already developed a 100ghz processor .

100 GHz, in other words 1 quintal of CPU power

How much power do we need in a desktop really?

The next CPU which if optical will be sure good, as it won't heat much

[rakesh_1024]

I heard of some INTEL Nehelam which could achieve sppeds in excess of 10.2Ghz :roll:

[pimpom]

Intel has finally seen the light - that pure clock frequency is not the end-all.

Or, they saw it all along, but were too stubborn to admit it
Or, pride prevented them from going the AMD way
Or, they just didn't know how to make better use of each clock cycle
Or, they've finally admitted that the direction they were taking was taking them nowhere and are stumbling off in another direction
Or, ....
Or, ....



Just kidding (at least partly). They'll probably fiigure out a way to surmount this barrier.

[allajunaki]

yeah true..
See what prescott did.. for that matter what Initial p4 williamate did...

For the pure Clock speed, p4 had lots of un-necessary steps in its processing which means P3 1.4Ghz would be faster than P4 at same clock speed..
(But that Intel covered up in pure speed..and by launching Northwood) Second time was our desi designed (Banglore designed if im not mistaken) Prescott.. But it sucks coz it produces TONS of heat and much slower...
Interestingly AMD now has 4000+ Athlon64's which has clock speed of 2.4Ghz (if im not mistaken) they take out Intel processors Easily.. ncluding the 3.6 and 3.8 Ghz P4EE...!