Which are the 0.13 micron P4's?

[bill1971]

I'm still a little confused on this issue. Which Intel CPU's are the
0.13 micron platform? In what speeds are they currently available? What's the difference between Willamette and Northwood?
Thanks for the input.

- Bill

[rlemieux]

The northwood are the .13 micros P4's, they also have 512k front side cache. The Willamette P4's have 256k front side. There is not much price difference between the Northwoods and the Willamettes. I bought a 1.8 northwood for 5 buck more than a Willamette. Its worth paying the extra 5 bucks. Also the Northwoods are the socket 478, not all the 478's are northwoods, but none of the 423's are.

[NDD]

rlemieux : you're mistaking "front side cache" for L2 cache.
Your other info is quite correct

0.13um "Northwood" processors are available in following flavors : 1.6/1.8/2.0 and 2.2GHz. And to differ them from 1.6-2.0GHz Willamette processors which already existed, they put an "A" letter after the speed of processor, i.e. "2.0AGHz".
Quite lame, if you ask me

[rlemieux]

Yeah I noticed that afterwards and was going to reply to correct it but you beat me too it. Thanks, next time I might proff read to make sure I dont look like a dummy again.

[bill1971]

Thanks rl and ND:

I thought that was the case. The Intel site sucks as far as spelling
out this differentiation. Glad this is correct, because my 1.6A - 512
L2 just arrived.But looking at the chip,I thought it might be a little smaller than the Willamette - but they look the same to me.
What kind of performance increase can I expect to see when comparing the 1.6 to the 1.6A? ( One of the reviews at Newegg
said OCing to 2.0-2.4GHz was fairly easy with the 1.6A).

Thanks for the input.

- Bill

[rlemieux]

As far as I understand, the biggest benifit is the overclocking potential. The 521k L2 means that the processor can store more data closer to the CPU, which is always a good thing. I believe I read somewhere the Northwoods are comparable to one jump in hz. For example your 1.6A would be comparable to a 1.7 Willamette. Other than that I am not too familiar with them. In my opinion though the .13 microns and the 512L2 is well worth the extra couple of dollars.

[Tor]

Northwood would be better for OC since the smaller process allows for higher frequency operation. Cant wait till the .09u process comes out! 4Ghz and beyond. The "A" is fairly common with Intel Processors. "A" is also used to identify the Tualatin from the Coppermine PIII.

[NDD]

The "A" is fairly common with Intel Processors. "A" is also used to identify the Tualatin from the Coppermine PIII.

Yep. This time is the 3rd time they using it. First was the Famous Celeron with 128k L2, remember the 300A to 450MHz ?

[bill1971]

Thanks for the clarification. One more question. Are any of the
P4's clock-unlocked?
I heard that the Athlons at or above 1.2GHz are unlocked, but I
know nothing about the P4's.
Thanks.

- Bill

[NDD]

clock-unlocked

You probably mean "multiplier-unlocked', don't you ?

Well, the answer is "no". All Pentium 4 processors are multiplier-locked, except for the few engineering samples around first.
As for Athlons - I saw two 1.4GHz models with factory-unlocked multipliers, but don't know if it applies to all 1.2GHz+ series ...