Intel to unleash 3.8GHz Pentium 4 on November 15

In two weeks, Intel will increase the clock speed of its Pentium 4 processor for possibly the last time as the company heads into a new era for its desktop processor designs.

The Pentium 4 570 processor is a 3.8-GHz chip with 1MB of Level 2 cache. It will feature the fastest clock speed of any Pentium 4 processor for an indefinite period of time, and will lead Intel's mainstream desktop segment when it is released on November 15, an Intel spokesperson confirmed Monday.

Intel's shift away from clock-speed frequency as a central design philosophy has been well documented this year. In May, the Santa Clara, California, company canceled plans for two high-frequency single-core processors in favor of an acceleration of dual-core designs due by the end of 2005. More recently, plans to release a 4-GHz Pentium 4 were nixed last month after Intel decided the effort required to reach that milestone would not be worth the expense.

Further details over at PC World