Intel® Takes Gaming To The Extreme

News Release

Intel® Takes Gaming To The Extreme

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Extreme Edition Designed for Gamers and Computing Enthusiasts

AUCKLAND, Tuesday November 04, 2003 – Intel Corporation today introduced the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor Extreme Edition supporting Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology** at 3.20 GHz. High-performance computers based on this new processor are designed for high-end gamers and computing enthusiasts and are now available from system manufacturers worldwide.

First discussed at the Fall 2003 Intel Developer Forum, the Intel Pentium 4 processor Extreme Edition supporting HT Technology provides gamers and power users with a premium computing experience. In addition, the processor helps deliver enhanced graphics – a key factor for more realistic game play – through faster frame rates, better detail rendering and higher resolution.

“Designed with the gaming and enthusiast communities in mind, the new Intel Pentium 4 processor Extreme Edition supporting HT Technology unleashes the performance needed to conquer the most demanding games and applications,” said Bill Siu, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Desktop Platforms Group. “We have added an on-die 2 megabyte Level 3 cache, which delivers a more realistic gaming experience when combined with Intel HT Technology.”

Extreme Performance
Built on Intel’s 0.13-micron process technology, the Intel Pentium 4 processor Extreme Edition features a 512 kilobyte Level 2 cache, a 2 megabyte Level 3 cache and an 800 MHz system bus speed. This processor is compatible with the existing Intel® 865 and Intel® 875 chipset families and standard system memory. The 2 megabyte Level 3 cache can preload a graphics frame buffer or a video frame before it is required by the processor, enabling higher throughput, faster frame rates and higher resolution when accessing memory and I/O devices.
This results in more realistic game play and improved video editing performance. Increased CPU performance also enables software vendors to create sophisticated software physics engines, which allows realistic character movements, and artificial intelligence, allowing computer controlled characters to be much more lifelike. The Pentium 4 processor Extreme Edition at 3.20 GHz delivers a SPECint*_base2000 benchmark result of 1583 and a SPECfp*_base2000 result of 1474***.

Hyper-Threading Technology: Turbo-Charging PCs
HT Technology allows software to “see” two processors instead of one. Software applications can be written to have multiple pieces of code called “threads,” and can take advantage of this technology. First introduced on server and workstations, HT Technology allows the desktop PC’s processor to work on two separate threads at the same time, improving performance when two or more applications are run simultaneously. Multitasking workloads benefit immediately when run under operating systems such as Microsoft Windows* XP or certain Linux* software. To date, many video encoding and other CPU intensive applications are threaded and can see up to a 25% performance boost on an Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading-based system.

Pricing and Availability
Intel also is shipping boxed Intel Pentium 4 processor Extreme Edition 3.20 GHz to Intel authorised distributors for system integrators worldwide. In 1,000 unit quantities, the Pentium 4 processor at 3.2 GHz sells for $US925.

Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

Intel and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

**Hyper-Threading Technology requires a computer system with an Intel® Pentium® 4 processor supporting HT Technology and an HT Technology enabled chipset, BIOS and operating system. Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading for more information including details on which processors support HT Technology.

Performance will vary based on system configuration. For more information on the performance of Intel products, visit http://www.intel.com/performance/resources/limits.htm.

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