Intel Corp. was behind its archrival Advanced Micro Devices in terms of introduction of high-performance 64-bit chips for desktops, but looks like the world’s largest chipmaker wants to be ahead with the value 64-bit central processing units. Various media claims the new Celeron processors with EM64T will be formally introduced as early as this April.

Intel Celeron D processors with EM64T will have the model-number designations 326, 331, 336, 341, 346, 351, and 355. The clock speeds of those chips are 2.53GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.80GHz, 2.93GHz, 3.06GHz, 3.20Hz, and 3.33GHz, respectively, according to a report over EETimes. The new central processing units will be designed for Socket 775 infrastructure and are likely to work using 533MHz processor system bus as well as integrate 256KB of L2 cache.

The new Celeron D processors with 64-bit capability will also support Execute Disable Bit (EDB) capability that protects certain memory areas from malicious software provided that Windows XP SP2 operating system is used, as some older Celeron D chips. It is unclear yet whether the new value chips from Intel Corp. sport the Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST) that reduces power consumption of the processors by adjusting their clock-speeds in real-time.

The exact launch schedule and pricing of Intel Celeron D processors with 64-bit capability is unclear.