0.13-Micron Version Climbs To 3.4GHz, Too
The CPU long known by the codename “Prescott” will soon appear in a PC near you: Intel Corp. is now shipping four Pentium 4 processors built using the company’s 90-nanometer (0.09-micron) process manufacturing technology on 300mm wafers. This more efficient successor to Intel’s 0.13-micron process technology combines high-performance, low-power transistors with strained silicon, high-speed copper interconnects, and a new low-k dielectric material.
The new 2.8GHz, 3.0GHz, 3.2GHz, and 3.4GHz Pentium 4 processors feature enhanced NetBurst microarchitecture with a larger 1MB Level 2 cache and 13 new instructions, as well as the 800MHz front-side bus and Hyper-Threading multitasking technology of previous models.
Intel has also introduced a 3.4GHz version of the 0.13-micron-process Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading and 512K L2 cache, and a 3.4GHz model of the 0.13-micron-process Pentium 4 Extreme Edition with 2MB of Level 3 cache for high-end gamers and power users. All six CPUs are compatible with Intel’s 875P and 865 chipset families except for the Extreme Edition, compatible with the 875P only.
The 90-nanometer Pentium 4 chips are priced at $178 (2.8GHz), $218 (3.0GHz), $278 (3.2GHz), and $417 (3.4GHz) in 1,000-unit OEM quantities; desktop PCs using the new processors are expected to ship later in the first quarter of 2004. The 0.13-micron Pentium 4/3.4 is $417 and the Pentium 4/3.4 Extreme Edition is $999.