Intel to take P4, P4EE to 3.4GHz next quarter - report

Intel will take the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition - along with the regular version - to 3.4GHz during the first quarter of 2004, presumably in a buffer for the initial absence of high clock frequency versions of the next generation of the Pentium 4, the 90nm 'Prescott'. So claim sources close to Intel cited by Xbit Labs.

Neither chip was present on the most last set of roadmaps we saw, from October. That document listed the 3.2GHz P4EE shipping in Q4 ahead of the 3.4GHz Prescott in Q1 2004. If the reports' sources are accurate in their description of the chip giant's latest roadmap, that suggests volume availability of the 3.2GHz and 3.4GHz Prescotts may now be edging toward the end of the quarter. Since the 3.2GHz P4EE was designed as much to fill a Prescott-shaped hole in the company's 2003 roadmap as to battle AMD's Athlon 64 FX chip, it's not unreasonably to assume that the 3.4GHz version is filling a similar gap in the early 2004 part of the roadmap.

Intel has to ship some Prescotts this year, so make good its promise to generate revenue from the product. On the basis of past roadmaps it was assumed it would offer limited quantities of the high-end Prescotts, but Intel has made no public statements about what clock frequencies it will offer. Our gut feeling is that it will actually offer limited quantities of the 2.8GHz and 3GHz Prescotts, originally roadmapped to follow the release of the faster parts, but now likely to precede them.

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