A new P4 processor?

[rond36]

I found this on Intel's web site.

Intel Press Release (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20030916corp_b.htm?iid=Homepage+Highlight_030916b&)
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/images/logos/p4p_ht_extreme.jpg

"Burns demonstrated consumer products that are available today or will be in the near future. This included a high-definition video stream running on a previously unannounced desktop processor, the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor Extreme Edition 3.20 GHz supporting Hyper-Threading Technology, with an additional 2 Megabytes of cache. This new processor will be targeted at high-end gamers and computing power users."

Has anyone heard any more about this new processor. The above paragraph is all of the info I could find about it.

[pave_spectre]

First Ive heard about it.

Sounds a bit like some kind of stop gap till the 64bit chips come out. I am curious as to how much more(if any) this new P4 will cost with its additional 2 meg cache.

[rond36]

If the price folows the same trend as the P4 Xeon expect to pay about twice as much for the larger cache.
P4 3.06 Xeon DP with 512Kb L2 $478.00
P4 3.06 Xeon DP with 512Kb L2 and 1Mb L3 $750.00
from the same vendor



Sounds a bit like some kind of stop gap till the 64bit chips come out.

From what I have read on Intel's site the "presscot" CPUs (http://www.intel.com/labs/features/mi02031.htm?iid=ihc+cmt_fot_miniaturization&#future) will not be 64 bit they will be 32 bit on a 90nm core with advanced instruction sets with improved HT and a larger L2 cache

"Prescott, the next-generation IA-32 processor, uses these and other ideas to overcome many of the current issues in scaling."

Originally they hinted that they were going to be 64 bit but I think they have put that on the back burner for now.

[pave_spectre]

Im not suprised that Intel have pushed back their 64 bit, since apparently they do not natively support 32 bit applications they way the AMD64 will.
Which means for the desktop marke,t at least for now, they will probably have to keep pushing the performance limits on the 32bit P4s until more applications/games are developed with support for 64bit processors.

[Mark Miller]

I have the centrino chip on my wife's new notebook and that has 1mb L2 cash, I gotta tell ya, no big deal. I mean the chip is small, 1.3 and it does test out at close to 2.0 p4. The only true advantage is that it runs alot cooler, so much so that the fan very rarely goes on. Sorry for getting off topic. Just thought it relevant to 2mb L2 cache.
Mark:)

[saphalline]

The main reason that Intel is pushing back a 64-bit CPU architecture is because Micro$oft's Windows64 isn't scheduled to be released until 2005. Given that, I don't think Intel is in a hurry to show off their lack of 32-bit support. :p

And yes, the Pentium-M is truly a remarkable CPU that really shows off the benefits of a yet larger L2 cache. As for a L3 cache, I don't think desktop CPU's will be sporting one of those anytime soon (the K6-III was the first and only so far).

Still, the die shrink and other advancements that Intel has planned for the Prescott should provide the boost they need to stay on top, never fear about that! :rolleyes:

[malcore]

As for a L3 cache, I don't think desktop CPU's will be sporting one of those anytime soon

Is a couple of months anytime soon?

Courtesy of TechCentral (http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2003/9/18/technology/6308816&sec=technology)

Intel also unveiled its plans to introduce within the next two months the Intel Pentium 4 processor Extreme edition 3.20GHz with Hyper-Threading, targeted at gamers and power users.

The Extreme edition will pack a whopping 2MB of level 3 cache, said Louis Burns, vice-president and co-general manager of Intel's Desktop Platforms Group.

Current iterations of Pentium 4 processors do not have level 3 cache but pack 512KB of level 2 cache.

The extra cache will give the Extreme edition much better performance than the current fastest Pentium 4, which also runs at a clockspeed of 3.2GHz, he said.

The Pentium 4 uses cache memory, which is located on the processor itself, to pre-fetch data from the slower main memory (RAM) to prevent bottleneck and speed up its number crunching.

The new processor is compatible with current motherboards, and computer vendors can plug the processor into existing motherboards without any modifications, Burns said.

Intel declined to reveal the price or any further information about the chip.

I think this may be a wise plan for Intel. Possibly an attempt to delay or cancel first versions of Prescott for socket 478, which may not be compatible with present chipsets.

Maybe an attempt to quiet the grumblings of unhappy users who were hoping to use their 875P or 865PE boards with the first Prescott? Might work.

[saphalline]

That's a bit odd. Why not just put that extra SRAM on the CPU die? Why make it L3? Makes you wonder about the associativity and cache hit/miss ratio, eh? ;) Still, full-speed L3 cache should help boost the P4 up near the AthlonXP in terms of core efficiency.

I still say Intel should fix the P4's pitiful L1 cache size instead of adding more distant cache memory. It may be full-speed, but it's still a few steps away from being immediately available!

[rond36]

Why not just put that extra SRAM on the CPU die? The L3 cache is on the CPU die.

From what I am reading (http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.html?i=20536) it seems the samples that Intel is sending out for benchmark testing have a multiplier of 17 not 16 this would make them 3.4GHz not 3.2GHz processors! There is an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) on the benchmarks so we will have to wait to find out what the results are.

Wouldn't it be nice if they left the multiplier unlocked on this on this model. :D

[Steve]

Wouldn't it be nice if they left the multiplier unlocked on this on this model.

Yes, it certainly would be. I'm thinking, this processor, unlocked and the new Intel Control Center (http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/software/dcc/index.htm). Boy, that would be worth a weeks pay! :)