Intel Corp was to launch the next generation of its flagship Pentium 4 microprocessor yesterday, adding more memory to the chip and other features that should allow it to reach record speeds of up to 4 gigahertz by the end of the year.
The processor code-named Prescott will be available at speeds ranging from 2.8 GHz to 3.2 GHz, with a 3.4 GHz model expected within a few months, said Bill Siu, vice president and general manager of Intel's Desktop Platforms Group.
The updated Pentium 4 will have 125 million transistors, up from about 55 million in the previous models. Most of those tiny switches will be devoted to doubling the memory on each chip from 512 kilobytes to 1 megabyte, Siu said.
The chips will be physically smaller as Intel, for the first time, deployed an updated process technology that creates chip features as small as 90 nanometers. That also will make production more efficient, because more die can be made from each silicon wafer.
"This is, we think, a very exciting and important milestone not just for Intel but for the industry," Siu said.
He declined to comment on reports that Intel added circuits that would eventually enable strict, hardware-based security -- and possibly iron-fisted copyright protection schemes.
Intel also would not comment on whether its latest chip might someday support 64-bit extensions, which would make it possible to add memory beyond today's 4 gigabyte limit.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc is already selling 64-bit chips for desktops, even though most software does not yet support it.
"Our position has always been Intel will offer these capabilities when the ecosystem, including operating systems and other things, is there to support it," Siu said.
Intel has in the past added features to a new processor but only switched them on later. In 2002, it released the Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading, which tricks the operating system into thinking a PC has two chips instead of one. Hyper-Threading was inside previous Pentium 4s, but not enabled.
Prices of the new Prescott chips, when purchased in bulk, range from US$178 for the 2.8 GHz model to US$417 for the 3.4 GHz version.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique