The Intel Pentium 4 is the fourth iteration of the Intel Pentium, which was once the flagship brand of PC processors, or central processing units, of semiconductor company Intel Corp. It was produced from 2000 to 2008. How fast a Pentium 4 chip operates is determined by the clock speed. Also known as the processing speed, it is the measurement of the rate at which it performs its basic functions.
Overall
Three Intel Pentium processors share the same maximum 3.8-GHz speed that the family of CPUs offers. They are the Intel Pentium 4 3.8, Intel Pentium 4 571 and Intel Pentium 4 570J. Each one of these processors has Hyper-Threading Technology (HT), which Intel introduced to make some of its computer chips better multitaskers. Also included with these computers are a 800-MHz front-side bus (or data transfer) speed and a 1-MB cache for high-speed access to the PC's most frequently used data.
Desktop vs. Mobile Processors
The desktop processors of the Pentium 4 family are generally faster than the mobile processors, which are chips that go on laptop PCs. The aforementioned fastest Pentium 4 chips --- the 3.8-GHz the Intel Pentium 4 3.8, Intel Pentium 4 571 and Intel Pentium 4 570J --- are all desktop CPUs. The fastest mobile chip is the Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor 552 HT, with a 3.46-GHz clock speed, which falls short of the fastest desktop types.
Extreme Edition vs. Regular Processors
In 2003, Intel Corp. began manufacturing a subcategory of the Pentium 4 dubbed the Extreme Edition. They were designed to be generally better performers than the regular chips. In fact, the slowest Extreme Edition chip has a clock speed of 3.2GHz, which still puts it on the higher end. (the slowest Pentium 4 clock speed is 1.4GHz.) However, the fastest Extreme Edition, with a processor speed of 3.73GHz, slightly lower than the family's peak of 3.8GHz.
HT vs Non-HT
Several Pentium 4 CPUs have HT, which include the three fastest chips. The fastest non-HT chips are the Intel Pentium 4 519K and 519J, with a processing speed of 3.06GHz. As desktop processors, they are slower than even the fastest mobile processor.
Tags: Intel Pentium, clock speed, Extreme Edition, Intel Pentium Intel, Pentium Intel