Intel Corp. maybe hours away from releasing its latest and last Pentium 4 processor based on the original Prescott core, according to various reports over the Web. The processor that will be clocked at 3.80GHz will remain Intel’s highest clock-speed processor for quite a while, as the company plans to find different ways of rising performance than increasing clock-speeds of its chips.

Intel’s Pentium 4 570J processor with 3.80GHz frequency, Hyper-Threading technology and 1MB of level-two cache is designed to fit into current 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus mainboards running i925- and i915-series of chipsets.

However, a bit enhanced performance is not the only peculiarity of the new microprocessor, as it also sports eXecute Disable (XD) technology that is sometimes referred as NX bit as well as EIST (Enhanced Intel Speed Step) technology that adjusts performance depending on load in order to maintain low heat dissipation and quiet operation of personal computers. Eventually lower-speed Pentium 4 processors will also get XD and EIST features. Still, the new 570J processor does not have 64-bit capability, even though it is months from Microsoft’s release of a special version of Windows XP that takes advantage of 64-bit chips. Some believe Intel will enable 64-bit capability in its chips only in 2005, when the new processors based on the Prescott 2M core emerge. Intel’s arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices released desktop x86-64 chips back in September, 2003.

Intel Corp. recently scrapped plans to release its Intel Pentium 4 product clocked at 4.00GHz citing commitment to release high quality and reliable products in large commercial volumes. Instead, the company said, it would concentrate on feature-set of its future microprocessors as well as different methods of increasing performance. So far Intel’s official plans included chips with 2MB of L2 cache, 1066MHz processor system bus and two processing engines, all of the mentioned capabilities are likely to increase performance in various situations.

Usually Intel’s top chips aimed at desktops cost $637. Along with the release of new top-of-the-range products other processors become more affordable. Some retail stores in Tokyo, Japan already showcase Intel Pentium 4 570J central processing units, reports Akiba PC Hotline.