This article originally appeared on Hardware Central.

Intel's desktop processor division hasn't issued much in the way of good news this year, with the embarrassing announcement that plans for 4.0GHz and faster Pentium 4s have been quashed, even as AMD grabbed the performance crown and seemingly pushed ahead with wild abandon. But that doesn't mean the chip giant is standing still. There is at least some news on the Intel front that can be considered positive, and may be a harbinger of better things to come in 2005.

The Pentium 4 570J

When Intel announced that the Pentium 4 "Prescott" core would not reach 4.0GHz, the countdown began for the obvious 3.8GHz release. This has finally arrived in the form of the Pentium 4 570J, a 3.8GHz CPU featuring 1MB of L2 cache. The core revision has been updated to E0, but remains consistent with prior 90-nanometer-process Prescott architecture. The "J" suffix -- also seen on new core revisions of the Pentium 4 520 through 560 models -- indicates support for Intel's Execute Disable Bit protection, which thwarts some popular memory-resident virus tactics (and which AMD's Athlon 64 and Opteron already offer under the label Enhanced Virus Protection).

Other than the new virus protection, we're still looking at a simple 200MHz speed bump, which doesn't really change the performance landscape in the least. The Pentium 4 570J still utilizes an 800MHz front-side bus, rather than the 1066MHz bus seen in the 3.46GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition.

The new CPU may be Intel's fastest mainstream desktop processor, but it fails to make up any real ground in gaming- and business-related performance testing, though it increases Intel's lead in multimedia encoding and rendering. The 570J also looks to be the last Intel release of 2004, and potentially the final Prescott core revision, while AMD is readying its 90-nanometer Athlon 64 models for the high end.

The only real surprise was the near-stealth release of the new processor, and lack of coverage it received. Intel apparently wants to target its release schedule more on a platform-specific nature, rather than highlighting each and every speed revision. Sounds logical, but of course, this strategy would never been employed if Intel held the performance lead and could gain additional press by putting the screws to AMD. As the performance levels are certainly not up to par with AMD's best, this stealth release can be considered a good public relations call, as it allows Intel to market a 3.8GHz part to its OEM dealers.

Intel Is One SLI Fox

Ever since the introduction of the first nForce chipset, Nvidia and Intel have been at odds over the desktop chipset market. The two firms didn't reach an agreement for Nvidia to produce Intel-based chipsets, so the nForce, nForce2, and nForce3 supported only AMD processors. There was lots of speculation as to why Intel denied Nvidia entry, with the most logical being that the chipmaker simply didn't see any advantages to an Nvidia license: Intel already controls the chipset market, but could not equal Nvidia in terms of integrated graphics. A little licensing revenue in return for a voracious competitor is not a wise tradeoff.

Now Intel's stance has changed, as the company has finally brokered a cross-licensing agreement that will allow Nvidia to supply chipsets to the Intel market -- and its dual-PCI-Express-card SLI graphics technology to the Pentium 4 platform. Before this announcement, AMD platforms were the only places to find Nvidia SLI, allowing only Athlon 64 buyers the luxury of doubling up on GeForce 6800 cards. This obviously raised some eyebrows over at Intel, and since Nvidia controls the graphics processor and SLI technology, a deal was in the best interests of both.

Nvidia has also changed a great deal since the inaugural launch of the nForce and resulting rift between the two companies. One of the main concerns expressed by Intel was allowing such a graphics power into the chipset market would naturally create issues with Intel's popular (indeed, dominant) and profitable integrated-graphics chipset line. Since then, Nvidia has shifted gears; since the debut of the Socket A nForce2, it hasn't released a desktop chipset with built-in graphics.

The actual Intel nForce chipset models and performance/feature levels have not been confirmed, but it's logical that Intel will want Nvidia to occupy the high-end and enthusiast levels of the market, leaving the entry-level and integrated sectors to Intel. One way or another, the main point of contention no longer exists, and the lure of SLI definitely turned the odds in favor of a licensing deal that may yield significant benefits to both companies.

Life After Northwood

Intel also announced that the current line of 130-nanometer-process Pentium 4 "Northwood" CPUs will fade from the market, disappearing from the active product list by mid-2005. This edict includes all Pentium 4/2.8 through /3.4 chips sporting 512K of L2 cache, although the Extreme Edition LGA775 models based on the Northwood core will still be around. This announcement comes as no surprise, as Intel is really pushing its newer LGA775 package and i925XE and i915X platforms, and have even migrated the Celeron line to 90 nanometers.

With 90nm technology producing more chips per wafer, the newer processors are less expensive to produce and hence better for Intel's bottom line. The proof is also evident in the retail pricing matrix, where LGA775 models enjoy a significant price advantage compared to both 90nm and 130nm Socket 478 Pentium 4 models.

Another reason this makes sense is the increasing growth of DDR-based LGA775 platforms such as the i915X and retrofitted i875P motherboards. This essentially means that buyers can now choose between multiple Intel chipsets that support the LGA775 package, without necessarily being forced to adopt DDR-2. Basically, it's a win-win scenario, with no real negatives except to Socket 478 Northwood upgraders (who will need to move fast).