The Inquirer supposed that Intel may announce their Pentium 4 processors with 3.06GHz clock-speed earlier than it was originally planned. According to the schedule, the new Pentium 4 chips were planned to be released on the 7th of November, however, since the competitor formally launches the new Athlon XP processors one week before the schedule, Intel also may force their 3.06GHz product to be announced about seven days earlier than originally planned.
Intel Pentium 4 processor with 3.06GHz core-frequency support the Hyper-Threading technology that should be supported by the core-logic of the system. The CPUs are intended to be installed on mainboards that meet the new guidelines from Intel, since such processors can consume a lot of power. According to Intel, all the i845PE and i845GE based mainboards are made according to the recommendations, moreover, the mentioned chipsets provide HyperThreading technology. The Pentium 4 3.06GHz processors are unlikely to be very popular among the end-users due to the fact that they should be supported by mainboards, while there are a lot of platforms that are not able to work with this high-end CPU. Those, who want to get one, should consult their mainbard?s manufacturer first, thus, the newcomers will gain the popularity slowly.
It is not so easy for Intel to launch another high-end processor a lot earlier than originally expected. With every new addition to the family, the company has to lower its prices on the less powerful devices. Of course, before the price declines, the partners should sell most of ?old? CPUs that are in-stock. As a result, Intel should take the partners into account, before launching the new products. Nevertheless, they really can unveil their new processor about a week before the schedule, since seven days cannot be so much important for the market, but the announcement of the ?beyond 3GHz? microprocessor has great effect on advertising of the Pentium 4 chips.
PS. Meanwhile this online-store offers the Pentium 4 3.0GHz processors for about $800. I have no idea if they really can deliver such CPUs right now.
Source: XbitLabs
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