The hurrah surrounding the release of Intel`s new processor - the Pentium 4 - seems a little ostentatious considering that, according to Moore`s Law, Intel is only fulfilling an inevitable need for greater CPU performance.
[VIDEO]Is there truly a call for the splurge of press coverage that this chip is receiving, or is it merely a marketing gimmick to convince users to buy computing power they do not necessarily need?
The answer to whether you truly need more processing power depends strongly on what you use your PC for.
If you are rendering high-resolution graphics on Softimage or LightWave, then you could use a P4. If you are a seriously dedicated gamer who demands the best system for that slight advantage in Quake 3, then you could justify a P4. If you are a developer running multiple servers and development environments on your machine to simulate your target server environment, then a P4 is for you.
The performance bottlenecks created by low memory are generally more apparent than a slower clock cycle in the processor.
Jason Norwood-Young, Technology Editor, ITWeb
That about wraps up all of the possible users that require the maximum performance available for the PC, where the price tag plays second fiddle to performance. For most users looking for word processing, spreadsheets, basic graphic capabilities, decent gaming performance, and good multi-tasking in a graphic user interface environment, the latest and greatest of processors is overkill.
Power to the people
Even the Pentium III is usually too powerful for the average office or home applications. The Celeron comes in at a much cheaper price point, and performs adequately for most PC tasks. Although Intel fervently denies this, the Celeron is a perfect office machine, and companies choosing this option can save themselves significant amounts in initial PC cost.
A home user would be well advised to invest more in memory and take a cheaper processor, which often results in better overall application performance, especially with memory-hungry Windows environments. The performance bottlenecks created by low memory are generally more apparent than a slower clock cycle in the processor.
An ardent gamer should likewise invest in curing the bottleneck of video speed rather than increasing megahertz. A faster video card will take much of the strain off the processor, resulting in faster game play, better graphics, and more clock cycles dedicated to artificial intelligence and other unseen gaming calculations.
If you use your machine predominantly for spreadsheets or word processing, a larger screen or a better keyboard and mouse will most likely make your experience more pleasurable than a faster processor.
Status symbol
Intel will still sell many P4 processors to users who will never feel the full benefit of 1GHz-plus speeds. Processors have almost achieved the status of the car - just because the speed limit is 120km/h, and drivers are unlikely to ever take their cars beyond 180km/h, that does not stop them from yearning for a Porsche 911 Turbo.
The consumer society that we live in places a great deal of social status on the goods we possess, and the processor has become one of those status symbols of our society, and thanks to Intel`s huge marketing campaigns, this conception is increasing over time.
Another option for buyers not willing to spend the amounts required for a machine that devalues at a dramatic pace anyway is the clone processor. Advanced Micro Devices` (AMD) chips have garnered a certain amount of respect since the company moved from merely cloning Intel`s CPUs to seriously competing head-to-head with the market leader in the technology stakes.
AMD still does not spend nearly as much on marketing as Intel, and its lack of branding is the only factor really holding its processors back from making serious market inroads. AMD admits that Intel does lead in the processor market, but unless you are looking for the fastest chip or a brand status symbol, an AMD processor does the job equally well.
Before you go and splurge on the newest processor Intel has to offer, take time to consider what you truly want from your PC, and whether it will take the power growling under the hood of a P4 to deliver on those requirements. Why drive a Porsche on the information superhighway, when the speed limit forces you to match the pace of a Golf?
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