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Pentium 4
Pentium 4 is a series of single-core CPUs for desktops, laptops and entry-level servers manufactured by Intel. The processors were shipped from November 20, 2000 until August 8, 2008. All Pentium 4 CPUs are based on the NetBurst microarchitecture, the successor to the P6.
The Pentium 4 Willamette (180 nm) introduced SSE2, while the Prescott (90 nm) introduced SSE3 and later 64-bit technology. Later versions introduced Hyper-Threading Technology (HTT). The first Pentium 4-branded processor to implement 64-bit was the Prescott (90 nm) (February 2004), but this feature was not enabled. Intel subsequently began selling 64-bit Pentium 4s using the "E0" revision of the Prescotts, being sold on the OEM market as the Pentium 4, model F. The E0 revision also adds eXecute Disable (XD) (Intel's name for the NX bit) to Intel 64. Intel's official launch of Intel 64 (under the name EM64T at that time) in mainstream desktop processors was the N0 stepping Prescott-2M.
Intel also marketed a version of their low-end Celeron processors based on the NetBurst microarchitecture (often referred to as Celeron 4), and a high-end derivative, Xeon, intended for multi-socket servers and workstations. In 2005, the Pentium 4 was complemented by the more advanced dual-core-brands Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition, all were succeeded at the top range by the Core 2 brand, while production continued until 2008, with Pentium 4 replaced by Pentium Dual-Core or called Pentium from 2009.
Intel officially declared end-of-life and discontinued Pentium 4 processors on July 13, 2010 when support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 ended.
In benchmark evaluations, the advantages of the NetBurst microarchitecture were unclear. With carefully optimized application code, the first Pentium 4s outperformed Intel's fastest Pentium III (clocked at 1.13 GHz at the time), as expected. But in legacy applications with many branching or x87 floating-point instructions, the Pentium 4 would merely match or run slower than its predecessor. Its main downfall was a shared unidirectional bus. The NetBurst microarchitecture consumed more power and emitted more heat than any previous Intel or AMD microarchitectures.
As a result, the Pentium 4's introduction was met with mixed reviews: Developers disliked the Pentium 4, as it posed a new set of code optimization rules. For example, in mathematical applications, AMD's lower-clocked Athlon (the fastest-clocked model was clocked at 1.2 GHz at the time) easily outperformed the Pentium 4, which would only catch up if software was re-compiled with SSE2 support. Tom Yager of Infoworld magazine called it "the fastest CPU – for programs that fit entirely in cache". Computer-savvy buyers avoided Pentium 4 PCs due to their price premium, questionable benefit, and initial restriction to Rambus' RDRAM. In terms of product marketing, the Pentium 4's singular emphasis on clock frequency (above all else) made it a marketer's dream. The result of this was that the NetBurst microarchitecture was often referred to as a marchitecture by various computing websites and publications during the life of the Pentium 4. It was also called "NetBust", a term popular with reviewers who reflected negatively upon the processor's performance.
The two classical metrics of CPU performance are instructions per cycle (IPC) and clock speed. While IPC is difficult to quantify due to dependence on the benchmark application's instruction mix, clock speed is a simple measurement yielding a single absolute number. Unsophisticated buyers would simply consider the processor with the highest clock speed to be the best product, and the Pentium 4 had the fastest clock speed. Because AMD's processors had slower clock speeds, it countered Intel's marketing advantage with the "megahertz myth" campaign. AMD product marketing used a "PR-rating" system, which assigned a merit value based on relative performance to a baseline machine.
At the launch of the Pentium 4, Intel stated that NetBurst-based processors were expected to scale to 10 GHz after several fabrication process generations. However, the clock speed of processors using the NetBurst microarchitecture reached a maximum of 3.8 GHz. Intel had not anticipated a rapid upward scaling of transistor power leakage that began to occur as the die reached the 90 nm lithography and smaller. This new power leakage phenomenon, along with the standard thermal output, created cooling and clock scaling problems as clock speeds increased. Reacting to these unexpected obstacles, Intel attempted several core redesigns (Prescott most notably) and explored new manufacturing technologies, such as using multiple cores, increasing FSB speeds, increasing the cache size, and using a longer instruction pipeline along with higher clock speeds.
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Pentium 4
Pentium 4 is a series of single-core CPUs for desktops, laptops and entry-level servers manufactured by Intel. The processors were shipped from November 20, 2000 until August 8, 2008. All Pentium 4 CPUs are based on the NetBurst microarchitecture, the successor to the P6.
The Pentium 4 Willamette (180 nm) introduced SSE2, while the Prescott (90 nm) introduced SSE3 and later 64-bit technology. Later versions introduced Hyper-Threading Technology (HTT). The first Pentium 4-branded processor to implement 64-bit was the Prescott (90 nm) (February 2004), but this feature was not enabled. Intel subsequently began selling 64-bit Pentium 4s using the "E0" revision of the Prescotts, being sold on the OEM market as the Pentium 4, model F. The E0 revision also adds eXecute Disable (XD) (Intel's name for the NX bit) to Intel 64. Intel's official launch of Intel 64 (under the name EM64T at that time) in mainstream desktop processors was the N0 stepping Prescott-2M.
Intel also marketed a version of their low-end Celeron processors based on the NetBurst microarchitecture (often referred to as Celeron 4), and a high-end derivative, Xeon, intended for multi-socket servers and workstations. In 2005, the Pentium 4 was complemented by the more advanced dual-core-brands Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition, all were succeeded at the top range by the Core 2 brand, while production continued until 2008, with Pentium 4 replaced by Pentium Dual-Core or called Pentium from 2009.
Intel officially declared end-of-life and discontinued Pentium 4 processors on July 13, 2010 when support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 ended.
In benchmark evaluations, the advantages of the NetBurst microarchitecture were unclear. With carefully optimized application code, the first Pentium 4s outperformed Intel's fastest Pentium III (clocked at 1.13 GHz at the time), as expected. But in legacy applications with many branching or x87 floating-point instructions, the Pentium 4 would merely match or run slower than its predecessor. Its main downfall was a shared unidirectional bus. The NetBurst microarchitecture consumed more power and emitted more heat than any previous Intel or AMD microarchitectures.
As a result, the Pentium 4's introduction was met with mixed reviews: Developers disliked the Pentium 4, as it posed a new set of code optimization rules. For example, in mathematical applications, AMD's lower-clocked Athlon (the fastest-clocked model was clocked at 1.2 GHz at the time) easily outperformed the Pentium 4, which would only catch up if software was re-compiled with SSE2 support. Tom Yager of Infoworld magazine called it "the fastest CPU – for programs that fit entirely in cache". Computer-savvy buyers avoided Pentium 4 PCs due to their price premium, questionable benefit, and initial restriction to Rambus' RDRAM. In terms of product marketing, the Pentium 4's singular emphasis on clock frequency (above all else) made it a marketer's dream. The result of this was that the NetBurst microarchitecture was often referred to as a marchitecture by various computing websites and publications during the life of the Pentium 4. It was also called "NetBust", a term popular with reviewers who reflected negatively upon the processor's performance.
The two classical metrics of CPU performance are instructions per cycle (IPC) and clock speed. While IPC is difficult to quantify due to dependence on the benchmark application's instruction mix, clock speed is a simple measurement yielding a single absolute number. Unsophisticated buyers would simply consider the processor with the highest clock speed to be the best product, and the Pentium 4 had the fastest clock speed. Because AMD's processors had slower clock speeds, it countered Intel's marketing advantage with the "megahertz myth" campaign. AMD product marketing used a "PR-rating" system, which assigned a merit value based on relative performance to a baseline machine.
At the launch of the Pentium 4, Intel stated that NetBurst-based processors were expected to scale to 10 GHz after several fabrication process generations. However, the clock speed of processors using the NetBurst microarchitecture reached a maximum of 3.8 GHz. Intel had not anticipated a rapid upward scaling of transistor power leakage that began to occur as the die reached the 90 nm lithography and smaller. This new power leakage phenomenon, along with the standard thermal output, created cooling and clock scaling problems as clock speeds increased. Reacting to these unexpected obstacles, Intel attempted several core redesigns (Prescott most notably) and explored new manufacturing technologies, such as using multiple cores, increasing FSB speeds, increasing the cache size, and using a longer instruction pipeline along with higher clock speeds.