Richard Woods wrote:
[SNIP]
If I were to recompose my previous message, its topic paragraph would be
more like:
For those of you contemplating a Pentium 4 purchase -- If you won't ever
want to upgrade your P4 processor without also upgrading the
motherboard, or if you won't mind having to buy a new motherboard in
order to upgrade to a faster P4, then this message is not relevant for
you. OTOH, if you want to be able to upgrade your P4 processor without
having to buy a new motherboard, I urge you to read a cautionary note by
Tom Pabst about Intel's future plans for the P4 at
http://www.sysdoc.pair.com/cpu/00q4/001013/roadmap-02.html
subtitled "Pentium 4 'Willamette' Is Just A Short-Term Filler".
[SNIP]
All the above is quite true. The current version of the P4, in
Intel's jargon "Willamette", is manufactured on 0.18um technology. The
P4 is a lead product for the 0.15um technology, and again using Intel's
nomenclature, will be renamed "Northwood". Northwood uses a different
package and pin out than does Willamette, and thus requires a new
motherboard. There will be an intermediate version, scheduled for
release near the middle of next year, that uses the Willamette die in a
Northwood package. This flavor is intended to allow the P4 to be used
in notebooks and get people buying motherboards that support Northwood
and future products. The hybrid version supposedly will work with both
the Willamette and Northwood chipsets, so an interposer could possibly
be used for existing motherboards.
The moral of the story is that buying today's P4 is much like buying
the original PPro -- little or no possibility of upgrades without buying
a new motherboard. Whether or not higher speed versions of the P4 are
released before the transition to Northwood occurs depends strongly on
what performance AMD wrings out of the Thunderbird follow-ons.
Regards,
Ethan
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