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The CPU that may end Intel's Pentium 4 line is now available. In exclusive PC World tests, the 3.2-GHz processor modestly outruns systems based on Intel's previous top chip and splits the contest with systems based on AMD's Athlon XP 3200+.

Leading PC vendors are expected to implement the 3.2-GHz CPU. The test system, a Xi Mtower 4320, is available now.

Hands-On Scores

The highly tuned PC, which has 1024MB of DDR400 memory and a Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card, scored 132 on PC WorldBench 4. That's a largely imperceptible 4 percent faster than the average score of 126 achieved by three previously tested and comparably configured 3-GHz P4 systems. All test systems include Intel's recently introduced 800-MHz frontside bus.

Two previously tested and comparably configured systems using AMD's new Athlon XP 3200+ processor (which runs at 2.2 GHz using a 400-MHz frontside bus) netted an average score of 137. That's an equally imperceptible 4 percent faster than the new Intel-based system.

In additional CPU- and graphics-intensive tests, the 3.2-GHz P4 system delivered 128 frames per second on Return to Castle Wolfenstein game tests run at 1024 by 768 and 32-bit color. That's a modest improvement from the three 3-GHz P4 systems' average of 120 fps, and notably higher than the rates of the two Athlon XP 3200+ systems, which netted an averaged of 102 fps. In similar tests using Unreal Tournament 2003, the 3.2-GHz P4 achieved 245 fps, the 3-GHz systems averaged 237 fps, and the AMD-based PCs netted an average of 246 fps.

To the average consumer, the most noticeable difference among the systems will likely be in cost, as illustrated by Xi's pricing. The company's 3.2-GHz P4 unit sells for $3778, its 3-GHz P4 PC sells for $3528, and a comparably configured Xi system with AMD's 3200+ chip sells for $3319.

Next Generation on Deck

Intel's 3.2-GHz chip is less important for its modest speed increase over its predecessors than for its place in the company's processor road map, says Kevin Krewell, senior editor at Microprocessor Report.

"It's the last part in this generation--likely the last one before Prescott launches," Krewell says. Prescott is the code name for the next-generation processor Intel has said it will roll out in the second half of 2003. Krewell expects the CPU to ship by that September.

Intel has released only a handful of details about how Prescott will differ from today's P4 processors, he adds. Some of what is known: The new chip is based on Intel's new 90-nanometer process (improved from today's 130-nanometer process; it will have a 1MB L2 cache (up from 512KB); and it will have a larger L1 data cache (16KB, up from 12KB).

Another major upgrade will be a set of 13 new processor instructions that Krewell says he expects Intel to name SS3. The new instructions will likely focus largely on improving security, he adds.

Finally, Krewell says Prescott should offer improved hyperthreading capabilities. Hyperthreading is a P4 technology that essentially lets a single processor act like two. PCWorld tests of the technology have yielded decidedly mixed results. That should change with Prescott, Krewell says.

"Prescott will also have improved buffering so it will do a better job of hyperthreading," he says. Today's P4 has to share a single buffer, so when hyperthreading is enabled it can actually slow performance on finely tuned applications, he says. The new chip will offer more write buffers to help fix this problem.

New Name?

While all of Prescott's technical innovations are important, there's another possible major change that Intel has yet to address: The name.

"Intel has not said for sure that it will call it a Pentium 4," Krewell says. But there are certainly enough changes to the processor to justify a switch to Pentium 5, he adds.

"That's a marketing call that Intel is playing close to the vest right now," he says. "There is no good reason not to change the name, but they may not."

If Intel doesn't bestow the P5 name on Prescott, the company would likely wait until its next big processor change, Krewell says. Expected more than a year after the launch of Prescott, that chip is currently code-named Tejas.

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