LADYDRAGON.COM - Intel Ships Pentium® 4 Processor Operating At 2.2 Billion Cycles Per Second

Monday January 07, 2002

Intel Ships Pentium® 4 Processor Operating At 2.2 Billion Cycles Per Second

Highest Performance for Music, Video and Photo-Intensive Applications

Intel Corporation today introduced its highest-performing Pentium® 4 processor ever, running at 2.2 gigahertz (GHz), or 2.2 billion cycles per second. Built using Intel's most advanced manufacturing technologies, the processor sets the stage for a new class of high-performance PCs that power increasingly popular digital music, photography and video uses, as well the latest applications being developed for the workplace.

Systems based on the Pentium 4 processor at 2.2 GHz are available immediately from leading computer makers worldwide.

The 2.2 GHz milestone comes at a time when nearly 450 million people use PCs that run at 700 MHz or less. While those PCs were state of the art two to four years ago, they pre-date the MP3 revolution, streaming video on the Internet, recordable DVDs and the online gaming phenomenon. The most recent data from InfoTrends Research Group, Inc. shows that 33 percent of online households own a digital camera. By 2005, Forrester Research says that 92 percent of US online households will create and share personal multimedia content.

"People are making digital media a regular part of their lives, and the new technology behind the Pentium 4 processor at 2.2 GHz makes those experiences better yet," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager, Intel Desktop Platforms Group. "This holiday season brought another surge in sales of digital cameras, and as consumers use such devices to record and share their lives with others, the highest-performing PCs enable the best experiences."

New Manufacturing Innovations Lead to Processor Performance
The new Pentium 4 processor is built on the semiconductor industry's most advanced manufacturing technology, Intel's 0.13-micron fabrication process, using highly-efficient copper interconnects. Using this technology, Intel was able to increase the chip's on-board memory (called level two cache) while reducing overall processor size by over 30 percent. With Intel's 0.13-micron process technology, it is possible to build circuits so small that 55 million transistors can be placed on each chip. It would take almost 1000 of these "wires" placed side-by-side to equal the width of a human hair.

Intel's 0.13-micron process technology features the world's fastest and smallest transistors (60 nanometer) used in volume production. These transistors are the foundation of the industry's highest performance microprocessors.

The Pentium 4 processor at 2.2 GHz is the world's highest-performance desktop processor as measured by the SPEC CPU* 2000 benchmark running Microsoft* Windows* XP. The Pentium 4 processor at 2.2 GHz delivers the world's highest Windows XP desktop processor score on SPECint*_base2000, with a score of 771. In addition, the Pentium 4 processor at 2.2 GHz delivers a SPECfp*_base2000 score of 766.

Platform Innovation
Intel also announced that its popular Intel 845 chipset now supports DDR memory, providing the industry with a high volume DDR solution that delivers both high reliability and memory interoperability. With its 845 and 850 chipsets, Intel is now shipping the Pentium 4 processor in all performance and mainstream computing segments with a full range of platform solutions supporting all major memory technologies. The 845 chipset has supported SDRAM memory since it was originally launched in August of 2001.

Two new Intel Desktop Board products, the D845PT and D845BG, support the 845 chipset and DDR memory and have been shipping since December. Today Intel also announced two desktop boards (D850MVSE and D845BGSE) that support up to five USB 2.0 ports. The higher bandwidth connections available through Hi-Speed USB 2.0 capitalize on the faster processing power of the Intel Pentium 4 processor. The two boards are being launched in advance of Intel's introduction of a USB 2.0-integrated chipset that will arrive in PCs later this year.

Pricing and Availability
The Pentium 4 processor at 2.2 GHz, with 512KB level two cache, is available now and priced at $562 in 1,000-unit quantities. The Pentium 4 processor at 2.0 "A" GHz with 512KB level two cache ("A" signifies the 0.13-micron version) is priced at $364. Intel is also shipping boxed Intel Pentium 4 processors up to 2.2 GHz to distributors and system builders worldwide. The Intel 845 chipset sells for $39 in 1,000-unit quantities.