There are unofficial claims that Intel will add Pentium 4 processors with 1MB of cache into its product lineup later this year. Because of dramatic problems with 90nm Strained Silicon technology we reported about on Friday, the company presumably plans to strengthen its product lineup with Pentium 4 processors running at 2.80, 3.00 and 3.20GHz core-speeds with 1MB of cache to support sales this year amid Athlon 64 ramp. The Prescott 3.20 and 3.40GHz processors with 1MB of L2 are now slated to come in late Q4 2003 or early Q1 2004. Obviously, the first revenue shipments of the Prescott will be made this year, however, the chips will become available massively only early next year, even though there may be some high-end systems for gamers with Prescott heart inside.
What is not quite clear is that, as The Inquirer reports, Intel adds 2.80, 3.00 and 3.20GHz Pentium 4 microprocessors into the product line late this year, presumably at the launch date of Prescott. The chips will cost the same price as the appropriate Pentium 4 processors with 512KB L2 after the price-cut on the 26th of October - $417, $278 and $218 for 3.20, 3.00 and 2.80GHz respectively – but will feature bumping 1MB of cache. The Pentium 4 microprocessors 1M with 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus and the Hyper-Threading technology will provide a free performance boost compared to CPUs available now. Moreover, in the second quarter next year Intel will roll-out its Prescott processors at 2.80 and 3.00GHz offering even more speed at the same price with today’s Pentium 4 with mentioned speeds.
News source: X-bit labs
What is not quite clear is that, as The Inquirer reports, Intel adds 2.80, 3.00 and 3.20GHz Pentium 4 microprocessors into the product line late this year, presumably at the launch date of Prescott. The chips will cost the same price as the appropriate Pentium 4 processors with 512KB L2 after the price-cut on the 26th of October - $417, $278 and $218 for 3.20, 3.00 and 2.80GHz respectively – but will feature bumping 1MB of cache. The Pentium 4 microprocessors 1M with 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus and the Hyper-Threading technology will provide a free performance boost compared to CPUs available now. Moreover, in the second quarter next year Intel will roll-out its Prescott processors at 2.80 and 3.00GHz offering even more speed at the same price with today’s Pentium 4 with mentioned speeds.
News source: X-bit labs
Besides, think about it this way, why would intel sell a 3.2 GHz CPU with 2 meg L3 cache for $925 and have it run slower than a 3.2 GHz CPU with 1 meg L2 cache for $417. THAT IS HALF THE PRICE FOR A BETTER CPU! It would totaly defeat the purpose of the P4 EE.
*Edit* I meant to say "No, 2MB of L3 is slower."
Last edited by 17035 on 10 Oct 2003 - 22:27
They need to do something before their customers get fed up with buying the same speed processor with different sizes of cache. There is only so much they can do with the cache.
So, now we have:
P4 (400 FSB, 512KB Cache)
P4B (533 FSB, 512KB Cache)
P4C (800 FSB, 512KB Cache)
P4EE (800FSB, 2MB L3 Cache)
and P4? (P4D maybe?) (800FSB, 1MB L2 Cache)
How many customers do you think will get the wrong CPU by accident?
Point: Intel is doing this CPU cache spree out of pure desperation.
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