Pentium 4 3.06GHz Processor With Hyperthreading

Intel's Pentium 4 3.06GHz Processor
Intel breaks 3GHz barrier and  introduces Hyperthreading to the mainstream

By, Dave Altavilla
and Chris Angelini
November 14, 2002
 

 
We're unaware of any SMP or multithreading optimizations that have been coded into UT2003, so we're expecting more of the same here.

3D Gaming performance with Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament 2003 Play time

Resolution:  640X480

Resolution :  640X480

Again we see roughly a 5 - 6% gain for the new 3.06GHz Pentium 4 versus the 2.8GHz variant.  Hyperthreading didn't buy us anything here, nor did it hurt us to have it enabled.  We're crossing our collective fingers that the folks at Id have coded Doom 3 with SMP or multithreading in mind, so that we have a gaming benchmark that can exploit the technology.  At the end of the day however, that is the remaining question, we came away with.  How well adopted will multithreading and subsequently, Intel's Hyperthreading, become?

This new Pentium 4 core has shown promise for certain, with respect to the new innovations in parallel processing that it brings to market.  The extra 266MHz this release offers up doesn't hurt either and Intel has hit another clock speed milestone at 3GHz.  We've shown you environments here, where Hyperthreading can effect performance significantly and others where it makes little difference.  The key is are you using multithreaded applications or are you running multiple tasks concurrently, in other words multitasking?  Since most folks do use their systems such that they are multitasking quite often, we feel the technology can only become more important to the end user, in the long run.

The launch price of the new P4 3.06GHz CPU is steep, as one would expect for Intel's new flagship, set at $637 in lots of 1k units.  The 2.8GHz P4 has been reduced recently to $401.  As usual, it makes sense to let this CPU get out into the retail sector for a while and let the sting fade from that price point, before jumping in on the action.  Regardless, one can't help but be enthused with respect to Intel's effort to bring SMP technology to the mainstream desktop and for hitting 3GHz for the first time in PC history.