Taiwanese motherboard makers are stating that due to some major issues with the Strained Silicon 90nm process Intel his Prescott CPUs will be slightly delayed to Q1 2004. In December 2003 they will be problably paper launched by Intel.
Originally set to come in the second quarter of 2003, Intel’s code-named Prescott processor is based on the same NetBurst architecture as all Pentium 4 CPUs, but is made using 90nm technology. As a result of some problems with this fabrication process, Intel postponed the release of the chip till the Q4 this year, but, as we see now, the new CPUs will be de facto available in commercial quantities only next year.
There are no particular indications of the issues with the new microprocessors, but based on the fact that thermal and power consumption specifications of Prescott were changed earlier this year, it is assumed that there may be problems with some side-effects of high core-speed and Vcore, such as electromigration effect.
