Pentium 4 Willamette may be delayed

Rumours that the Pentium 4 (Willamette) will be delayed appear to have the ring of truth about them, according to sources close to the action.

Willamette, which back in June was slated for an early-to-mid September release date in its 423-pin recension, at clock speeds estimated to vary between 1.2GHz and 1.5GHz, is Intel's next generation 32-bit microprocessor.

Intel has never confirmed a launch date for Willamette, so would be likely to say how can something be late when we never said when it would be released anyway.

Reports both on hardware site JC's Pages and on Silicon Investor suggest the delay could be as long as eight weeks.

Those reports have received some confirmation from PC vendors contacted by The Register, who say motherboard firms are delaying shipments of products to support Willamette.

Further, another source said that the air cooling requirements for the Pentium 4 look "ridiculously expensive" to implement, with fans costing as much as $25 a system.

Meanwhile, a small nugget of information may explain additional pins which will be added to the Pentium 4 platform next year.

It appears that Willamette-479 may incorporate the north bridge of the support chipset directly into the microprocessor die. ®

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