Navigate: Advice Beginners BIOS Guide CPUs Links Mainboards Memory Network Storage Video/Sound Cards Contact Forum SiteMap Sponsors WebNews Home	.	.
Prices: Mainboards ABIT ASUS Chaintech Shuttle Soyo Tyan CPU Intel P4 2.4C-800 P4 2.6C-800 P4 2.8C-800 P4 3.0-800 P4 3.2-800 AMD AthlonXP XP 1700+ XP 2000+ XP 2400+ XP 2500+ XP 2700+ XP 3000+ XP 3200+ Athlon64 Athlon64 3200+ Athlon64 FX-51 Opteron Opteron 240 Opteron 242 Opteron 244 Opteron 246 Memory Corsair Crucial Kingston Mushkin OCZ Search Prices:

Intel strikes back with the 2.4 GHz Northwood core-based P4 which is the last speed grade using the quad pumped 100 MHz front side bus. Future speed grades will move on to the 133 / 533 MHz FSB which will enable to run PC2100 DDR memory in a point to point protocol without synchronizers and without fifos, which will greatly increase bandwidth in non-streaming applications. For the time being, the P4 2.4 GHz is Intel's Dai Katana against AMD to finally re-conquer the crown of the fastest x-86 microprocessor. No technological changes have been made from the 2.0A and 2.2GHz Northwood P4s, it is merely a refined die with higher clock speed and higher clock potential. So how does it stack up?

Before even going there, we need to define what reality is and what it is not. Reality is the need to bring new technology out and if in the past "war has been the father of all things", competition between the IC giants Intel and AMD is the driving force for the next generation of processor and the advancement of technology.

If we take a snapshot here, we are standing right at yet another turning point in the evolution of the microprocessor. Two weeks ago, AMD announced the last spawn of the Palomino line, this week it is Intel to come out with the latest speed grade of the P4 which, coincidentally, is the last P4 using the 100 MHz FSB quad-pumped to 400 Mbit/sec/pin. All future P4 grades will use the 133 / 533 MHz interface. In other words, both CPUs are designed around obsolescence but since obsolescence is the middle name of the computer industry anyway, it is just a few weeks either way anyway.

Compared to the next jump in technology, that is, a 33% increase in FSB which also means bandwidth, AMD's move from the Palomino to the Thoroughbred looks more like a mere die shrink without any further technological advances. Again, this is a valid angle of view but leaves out the cost factor determined by the number of dies / wafer. In other words, if money didn't play any role and we could just build whatever we wanted regardless of the costs involved ......

Time to introduce the 2.4 GHz P4

The test specimen of the P4 2.4 GHz came in the form factor of an unmarked "Intel Confidential" sample.

Briefly, there are no technical or technological novelties about the 2.4 GHz version. The die is the same that was introduced with the 2.0A and 2.2GHz Northwood, using 130 nm copper interconnect with 60 nm transistor gate length technology and an estimated frequency ceiling of roughly 4 GHz. The FSB is at the same 100 MHz as it was for the previous versions, which leaves the multiplier as the only thing that has really changed. Contrary to some April 1st news, the 2.4 GHz version does not feature a new die shrink either, it comes from the same 200/300 mm wafers (depending on the fab) as the rest of the Northwood family.

I am tempted to say that this is all I can contribute to yet another review of the 2.4GHz Northwood but there are always some who really want to see benchmarks so let's let them have it.

next page:    => Let's Get Dirty =>