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.

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.

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.

A. Intel recommends using Service Pack 1 (SP1) with Windows* XP Home or XP Professional. It is always good practice to use the most current version of the operating system.