Intel speeds Pentium 4 ramp with 1.9, 2.2GHz chips

Desktop Pentium III dead by Q2 next year

Intel will roll out a 1.9GHz Pentium 4 processor in addition to the expected 2GHz P4 it is expected to unveil during Q3, according to the latest roadmap to leak out of the company.

Much of what appears on the roadmap, part of which is on view over at Web site WildAndyC.co.uk, reiterates and clarifies material on previous roadmaps. A case in point: Intel will release a 2.2GHz 0.13 micron P4 die-shrink (aka Northwood) by the end of the year - previous roadmaps simply had Northwood down at ;greater than or equal to 2GHz'. Northwood will be taken to 2.4GHz in Q2 2002.

The addition of the 0.18 micron 1.9GHz P4 follows Intel's recent plan to fill out the existing P4 line with intermediate clock speeds. So, the shipping 1.5 and 1.7GHz parts, plus the upcoming 2GHz chip, will now be joined by 1.6, 1.8 and 1.9GHz processors.

Further down the food chain, the roadmap reiterates Intel's plan to spread the 0.13 micron Pentium III core, codenamed Tualatin, into the Celeron family. Intel is clearly accelerating the plan for Tualatin to replace 0.18 micron Coppermine - the interim Coppermine-T variant doesn't get a mention here, suggesting Intel has indeed decided to drop it in favour of a more rapid Tualatin roll-out.

Tualatin is unlikely to get above 1.26GHz on the desktop - this part's launch is expected on 8 August - and by Q2 2002 the chip will have been squeezed out of the mainstream PC arena. With Tualatin cores powering only Celerons at that point, presumably that means the Pentium III brand won't survive past Q1 2002, at least in the desktop market.

Its survival in the mobile arena seems more certain. Mobile 0.13 micron Pentium IIIs are expected to launch at 1.06 and 1.13GHz - the roadmap update has the part up at 1.26GHz but the end of the year. ®

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Intel samples 0.13 micron Pentium 4
Intel lets slip 2GHz P4 release timeframe
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Intel Tualatin to replace Coppermine, fast
Chipzilla gears up for 2GHz-plus PCs

Related Link

WildAndyC.co.uk: Intel Wk 22 Yr 2001 Roadmaps