Introducing the 3.0-GHz Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading! If you're wondering why the fanfare for a chip that drops in speed compared with the 3.06-GHz part Intel launched last year, take a look beyond the processor: Set to run at a blazing front-side bus (FSB) speed of 800 MHz (200 MHz, with four blocks of data transferred per clock cycle), the new version of the P4 chip works with a different internal multiplier to end up with a slower clock than its 533-MHz FSB predecessor. But you won't bemoan the missing 60 MHz. The faster bus―and a few extras that come along with the new 875P chipset―are the real story here. Code-named Canterwood, the new platform is all about headroom. Merely adding CPU horsepower doesn't allow for consistent performance increases. Occasionally, a platform needs a total overhaul, like Canterwood, to pave the way for faster clock speeds, faster peripherals, and overall system advances. That is, even if we can't take advantage of all the advances just yet.
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