Intel set to show 2Ghz Pentium 4

It took more than 30 years to get to the 1GHz microprocessor performance

level. It has taken Intel just 14 months to get from one to 2GHz, as the Santa

Clara chipmaker is set to demonstrate its 2GHz chip at a press conference in San

Jose on August 27.

Meanwhile, archrival Advanced Micro Devices appears to have hit a major

stumbling block in its efforts to keep up with Intel in the GHz performance

race. The company's leading Athlon processor has remained stuck at the 1.4GHz

level for much of this year while Intel has moved quickly from 1.3 to 1.4 to

1.7, 1.8 and now 2GHz.

For its part, AMD claims the design of its 1.4GHz chip allows the chip to

outperform a 1.7GHz Intel chip systems by up to 40 per cent on a variety of

benchmarks, including cutting-edge multimedia, desktop publishing, digital

imaging and voice recognition applications.

The 2GHz Intel chip will be introduced by Louis Burns, vice president and

general manager of Intel's Desktop Products Group.