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In the Forums... |
Posted: July 17, 2001 Written by: Tuan "Solace" Nguyen Analysis and Conclusion Another release, another speed increase. What we see with the 1.8GHz Pentium 4 is scalability. Intel increases speed on the Pentium 4 processor faster than any other processor on the market. This is evidence to the fact that the deep pipelines of Intel’s NetBurst architecture lives up to some of its promises. The way things are looking, we’ll soon be reaching 2GHz and higher. I remember the years when reaching 500MHz took what seemed like centuries. As technology advances, reaching more advance technologies takes exponentially less time.  This is all good for everyone in the industry and even good for everyone not. The 1.8GHz Pentium 4 is a good performer that just needs another price cut to balance itself out with AMD’s offerings. If Intel plans to release another Pentium 4 processor based on the same pin array as the current ones, the last of them will likely be running at 2GHz. Future Pentium 4 processors will move forward to a different interface. Is upgrading a safe bet? It sure is. It just depends on where you’re coming from and where you plan to go. If you’re a frequent flyer, I suggest holding back just a bit and observing Intel’s footsteps. Surely Intel will change a few things with the current NetBurst architecture with the next major installment of the Pentium 4. Also, be on the lookout for the Tualatin processor as well. It’s a Pentium 3 based on a 0.13-micron fabrication process. Initially the Tualatin will be released with 256KB of L2 cache but rumor has it that a 512KB version is on the horizon. Currently what we have available today is a definitely high potential. RDRAM prices have plummeted more than I ever expected. These huge price drops makes a Pentium 4 system even more appealing than ever before. |
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