The New P4 Northwood Processor

In Q3 of 2001, Intel will ship Northwood, a die shrink to 0.13 micron which may also include some architectural tweaks to improve its computational efficiency (clocks per instruction). The most obvious tweak though will be to drive its clock speed to astonishing new levels. It is not unreasonable to assume that this processor will be able to hit or exceed 2GHz.

When Northwood launches, it will retain its position at the high end when combined with Intel's Tehama platform - enhanced with the ICH3 south bridge. In addition, the Northwood die shrink will reduced costs and increase capacity, allowing expansion into the sub-$2000 mainstream when combined with the new Brookdale chip set supporting SDRAM. Starting in H1'02, Intel expects to fill its entire product range above $1000 with Northwood.

In the generation gap between Willamette and Northwood, Intel will introduce a package change. The initial PGA423 package for Willamette is depicted below (423 pins).

Prior to the introduction of Northwood, Intel will introduce Willamette in a new mPGA478 package, with 55 new additional pins. The dual package strategy for Willamette is to help ease the transition to Northwood. Northwood will ship exclusively in the new mPGA478 package for the desktop market. We presume that these new additional pins are primarily for the power and ground necessary to run at 2GHz and above. Northwood platforms will also require a new on board voltage regulator solution to supply the processor with new core operating voltages at higher currents.

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