Intel P4 3.06 GHz w/Hyper Threading

Over a year ago we saw Intel beat AMD in the battle to hit 2 GHz with their P4, since the P4 2 GHz was based on the original Willamette core; it wasn’t met with much acclaim by the hardware community. Nonetheless, the Willamette 2 GHz was still a success thanks to OEM’s delivering systems to consumers who like big numbers, in terms of MHz.

Fast forward a bit to last December we saw that Intel finally released their .13u Northwood based P4’s ranging from 1.6 GHz to 2.2 GHz which ran neck and neck with AMD’s Athlon XP2000+, which launched on the same day. With the launch of the Northwood core P4’s; Intel stated that the Northwood core will allow them to break the 3 GHz barrier in Q4 2002. As time passed, we saw Intel release a 2.4 GHz, which was faster then anything AMD had to offer at the time, as well as make the transition to a faster 533 MHz Quad Pumped front side bus which allowed them to scale the Northwood core even higher.

Towards the end of the summer we saw Intel and AMD launch new processors. While Intel launched a 2.8 GHz processor and was able to deliver right away, AMD had problems delivering their recently released XP2400+ (2 GHz) and XP2600+ (2.1 GHz) processors, which let Intel gain more market share. While AMD recently released their XP2700+ and XP2800+ processors running on a 166 MHz FSB, Intel was prepping to launch their counter attack.

Since AMD still has yet to deliver their flagship XP2800+ models, Intel has taken this opportunity to execute their latest product launch. Today Intel has chosen to launch their latest flagship 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 equipped with Hyper Threading SMT technology just a few days before Comdex starts.

Hyper Threading Explained

We’ve all heard the phrase “Two become one,” which I won’t even attempt to go into detail about, but Hyper Threading technology in laymen terms is pretty much the opposite, which is “One becomes two.” What does it all mean you might ask? Since the birth of the x86 processor, processors have only been able to process one thread at a time, unlike multiple processor systems, which are capable of processing multiple threads.

With processors increasing rapidly in speed, you can only increase the clock speed to a certain point before it is no longer the limiting factor. Intel saw this limitation and recently introduced Hyper Threading SMT technology to their Xeon (Prestonia) line of processors. SMT, or Symmetrical Multi-threading, allows a single processor to process multiple threads, without having a physical second processor but instead having a logical or virtual second processor. In the case of the P4 3.06 GHz HT, even though it is only a single processor, it would be detected as two processors in Windows, which allows Windows to sign a thread to each Logical processor. In simpler terms, the processor tricks the OS into thinking there are two processors installed which would allows the OS to treat the system as a Dual Processor system.

While the processor and BIOS might support the technology, it is all up to the OS to take advantage of it in the end. Currently the only operating systems that support Hyper Threading Technology are Windows XP Professional, Home, Windows 2000, and Linux. While some might argue that Windows XP Home Edition only allows one processor, you’re somewhat right. Windows XP Home as reported by Microsoft and Intel supports one physical processor, and one logical processor, which makes Windows XP Home fully compatible with HT, enabled 3.06 GHz Pentium 4’s.

The Processor


Since the P4 3.06 GHz is still a Socket 478 processor, it doesn’t differ much from its existing counterparts.



With such a high clock speed, the 3.06 GHz requires a new cooling solution. Unlike the all aluminum cooler that graced the P4 up to 2.8 GHz, the new cooling solution uses a hybrid copper and aluminum design. Like most hybrid solutions, the new cooler uses a copper core with aluminum fins because copper is better with heat transfer and aluminum is better with heat dissipation. The cooler also uses a Sunon 70MM fan which is relatively loud. Lastly the heat sink was designed by a company named EKL, as printed on the label.