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INTRODUCTION
The PentiumŪ 4 processor is Intel's new flagship microprocessor that was introduced at 1.5 GHz in November of 2000. It implements the new Intel NetBurst® microarchitecture that features significantly higher clock rates and world-class performance. It includes several important new features and innovations that will allow the Intel Pentium 4 processor to deliver industry-leading performance for the next several years. This paper provides an in-depth examination of the features and functions of the Intel NetBurst® microarchitecture.
The Pentium 4 processor is designed to deliver performance across applications where end users can truly appreciate and experience its performance. For example, it allows a much better user experience in areas such as Internet audio and streaming video, image processing, video content creation, speech recognition, 3D applications and games, multi-media, and multi-tasking user environments. The Pentium 4 processor enables real-time MPEG2 video encoding and near real-time MPEG4 encoding, allowing efficient video editing and video conferencing. It delivers world-class performance on 3D applications and games, such as Quake 3*, enabling a new level of realism and visual quality to 3D applications.
The Pentium 4 processor has 42 million transistors implemented on Intel's 0.18u CMOS process, with six levels of aluminum interconnect. It has a die size of 217 mm2 and it consumes 55 watts of power at 1.5 GHz. Its 3.2 GB/second system bus helps provide the high data bandwidths needed to supply data to today's and tomorrow's demanding applications. It adds 144 new 128-bit Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) instructions called SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extension 2) that improve performance for multi-media, content creation, scientific, and engineering applications.
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