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A. Intel's Pentium IV and AMD's Athlon XP CPUs are currently
the performance CPUs of choice. Athlon XP CPUs
are an improved version of the Athlon Thunderbird
CPUs. Intel's Pentium IV CPUs have a much higher
clock speed, but they actually are outperformed
by the "slower" (in terms of MHz) Athlon XP CPUs
and even Pentium III CPUs in many benchmarks, until
you get to 2.2 GHz and beyond (where the P4 pulls
ahead). The Pentium IVs also cost a lot more. In
the long run, Intel's line will move to only the
Pentium IVs, and they will be much better as their
clock speeds rise. At this point in time they are
not the best choice in my opinion. The Pentium
IV motherboard chipsets are improving, and they
are now clocked at 2.2 GHz+, which makes them a
good, fast choice, but you'll currently pay much
more for the Pentium IV 2.2 GHz+ CPUs than the
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ CPUs that perform only slightly
slower. The newer "Socket 478" Pentium IVs are
out, which will support higher clock speeds than
the Socket 423 CPUs. The "Northwood" version of
the Pentium IV is on the way, and it will support
faster clock speeds, new instructions, and double
the L2 cache memory (512k). If AMD doesn't have
an answer to this CPU, Intel will become the better
choice.
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A. Intel
Pentium 4 processors do not provide dual processing
support.
Pentium 4 processors are ideal for desktop customers who want to be on the
leading edge of technology. Pentium 4 processors are designed for users in
the high-end of the performance segment. Professionals, PC gamers, and enthusiasts
as well as entry-level workstation customers will benefit from systems designed
using the Pentium 4 processor.
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A. Understanding
the system requirements for Hyper-Threading Technology
will help answer this question.
Hyper-Threading Technology requires a computer system with an Intel® Pentium® 4
processor at 3.06 GHz or higher, a chipset and BIOS that utilize this technology,
and an operating system that includes optimizations for this technology. Performance
will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading
for information.
Systems built prior to the release of the Intel® Pentium® processor 3.06
GHz will likely require an update of the motherboard, BIOS, and processor. In
some cases, the chassis and power supply may also need to be upgraded to support
HT Technology.
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