Intel Corporation has been shipping its fastest Pentium 4 3.20GHz processor ever and also the last high-end processor based on the Northwood core for at least a month, but only today all retailers, OEMs and others begin selling these chips officially to end-users.

The last Pentium 4 processor with 512KB of L2 cache for Socket 478 is made using 0.13 micron fabrication process and is intended to work only with this year’s chipset heroes i875P and i865G/PE platforms supporting 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus. Besides all its advantages, the 3.20GHz Pentium 4 offers the Hyper-Threading technology to boost performance in certain applications.

The Pentium 4 3.20GHz will remain on the very top of Intel’s CPU offerings for more than a quarter. According to preliminary information, the Santa California-based semiconductor company will release its next powerful chip only in November this year; the next speedy monster will be clocked at 3.40GHz, but will be based on the new Prescott core with 1MB of L2 cache and other advantages.

The new CPU costs $637 and is currently the fastest microprocessor for desktop personal computers. Please also read our Intel Pentium 4 3.20GHz CPU Review to find out everything about the newcomer.