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Intel Pentium 4 processor family

CPU » Pentium 4

Intel Pentium 4 microprocessors were based on completely new NetBurst micro-architecture, that differed significantly from P6 micro-architecture used in Pentium II/Pentium III microprocessor families. One of key features of Pentium 4 processor was Hyper-Pipelined Technology - 20-stage pipeline, that was two times longer than in previous generation of Pentium processors. While longer pipelines are less efficient than shorter ones, they allow the CPU to reach higher frequencies, and thus increase CPU performance. To improve efficiency of very deep pipeline the Pentium 4 processors included many other features: Trace Execution Cache, Advanced Transfer Cache, Enhanced Branch prediction, Quad Data Rate bus and Hyper-Threading technology. When first released the Pentium 4 architecture included 144 new SIMD instructions called SSE2. Later versions of Pentium 4 processors also included SSE3 instruction set and full set of 64-bit instructions (EM64T).

Intel Pentium 4 microprocessor family consists of the following sub-families:

  • Xeon and Xeon MP - high performance versions.
  • Pentium 4 - desktop CPU.
  • Mobile Pentium 4 and Mobile Pentium 4-M - mobile versions of the CPU.
  • Celeron - low-cost version.
  • Mobile Celeron - mobile version of the low-cost Pentium 4 processor.

All Pentium 4-branded processors have only one CPU core. Dual-core microprocessors based on NetBurst microarchitecture were branded as Pentium D.
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At a glance
Introduction:
2000
Technology (micron):
0.18, 0.13, 0.09, 0.065
Frequency (GHz):
1.3 - 3.8
Bus speed (MHz):
400 - 1066
L2 cache size (KB):
256 - 2048

Desktop Pentium 4 Willamette

Intel Pentium 4 - 80528PC1.XG0K

Intel Pentium 4 - 80528PC1.XG0K


Early engineering sample of Pentium 4. This processor was manufactured in second half of May of 2000 - one month before Intel announced Pentium 4 brand name and six months before the Pentium 4 family was officially launched. The processor is not marked with specific speed, the part number specifies speed as 1.X GHz.

Desktop Pentium 4 Northwood

Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz - RK80532PC056512 (BX80532PC2400D)

Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz - RK80532PC056512 (BX80532PC2400D)

Next Pentium 4 core - Northwood - was a die shrink of Willamette core. Based on 0.13 micron technology, Northwood microprocessors had lower voltage, and, as a result, lower power consumption than Willamette CPUs. The size of level 2 (L2) cache in this core was increased to 512 KB, besides that there were no major changes in microprocessor microarchitecture. Bigger L2 cache gave Northwood processors 5% - 20% speed boost over Willamette processors. Front-side bus frequency in first Northwood microprocessors didn't change. Over time the bus frequency was increased to 533 MHz, and finally to 800 MHz.

Northwood microprocessors were manufactured in 478-pin micro FC-PGA package (shown on the picture).

Desktop Pentium 4 Prescott

Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz - RK80546PG0801M (BX80546PG3000E)

Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz - RK80546PG0801M (BX80546PG3000E)

More than just a die shrink of the previous Northwood core, Prescott core was revamped with the goal of reaching higher frequencies and further increasing processor performance. To achieve higher frequencies the processor pipeline was increased to 31 stages. To improve processors performance the sizes of level 1 data cache and level 2 cache were increased, and different parts of the core were optimized - branch prediction enhanced, execution time of a few instructions reduced, data pre-fetching improved, etc. Support for new SSE instructions was added to all Prescott-based Pentium 4 CPUs. More recent Prescott processors also supported EM64T (64-bit technology), Execute disable bit and Virtualization features.

Desktop Pentium 4 Cedar Mill

Cedar Mill, the last single-core Pentium 4 core, was built on 0.065 micron technology. Micro-architecture of this core didn't change from previous Prescott core, therefore performance-wise they are as fast as Prescott CPUs. The only advantage of Cedar Mill processors over Prescott processors is their lower power consumption. For instance, Pentium 4 Cedar Mill 3.6 GHz has 30 Watt lower Thermal Design Power (TDP) than Pentium 4 Prescott 3.6 GHz.

Pentium 4 Cedar Mill microprocessors were manufactured only in 775-land FC-LGA (socket 775) package.

Desktop Pentium 4 Extreme Edition

Started as a direct competitor to Athlon 64 FX family, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition family comprises of the best performing Pentium 4 microprocessors. Being socket-compatible with microprocessors from other Pentium 4 families, Extreme Edition CPUs incorporated such features as very large level 3 cache or increased Front-Side Bus frequency to achieve somewhat better performance than comparably clocked Pentium 4 processors. Small increase in CPU performance came at a hefty price - official price of all newly introduced Extreme Edition processors was $999 a piece. Pentium 4 EE family was ultimately replaced by a family of dual-core processors branded as "Pentium Extreme Edition".

Mobile Pentium 4-M

Intel Mobile Pentium 4-M 2.2 GHz - RH80532GC049512 (BXM80532GC2200D)

Intel Mobile Pentium 4-M 2.2 GHz - RH80532GC049512 (BXM80532GC2200D)

The first Pentium 4 family of mobile microprocessors was Pentium 4-M. All processors in this family had 0.13 micron Northwood core, 400 Mhz effective Front Side Bus (100 MHz quad-pumped bus) and 512 KB level 2 cache. Intel Pentium 4-M microprocessors had lower core voltage and lower thermal design power than desktop Northwood CPUs. Mobile Pentium 4-Ms also included speed-step technology and Deeper Sleep mode. The microprocessors were manufactured in 478-pin micro-PGA package without integrated heatsink. Mobile Pentium 4-M processor family was replaced by mobile Pentium 4 family.

Mobile Pentium 4

Intel Mobile Pentium 4 518 2.8 GHz - RK80546HE0721M

Intel Mobile Pentium 4 518 2.8 GHz - RK80546HE0721M

Mobile Pentium 4 was the last generation of mobile microprocessors with NetBurst microarchitecure. The mobile microprocessors were based on two Intel Pentium 4 cores - Northwood and Prescott. The processors had either 512 KB (Northwood core) or 1 MB (Prescott core) level 2 cache, and 533 MHz Front side Bus. Some Northwood mobile CPUs and all Prescott processors included Hyper-Threading technology. Although these processors had the same power-saving features of Pentium 4-M microprocessors, power consumption of these CPUs was significantly higher than the one of Mobile Pentium 4-M processors. In fact, the power consumption of Prescott-based mobile Pentium 4 was so high, that it hardly could be considered a "mobile" processor.

Last modified: 26 Jan 2009
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