Intel Strikes Back

Yesterday we mentioned that Intel would be revealing details behind a 1GHz Pentium III today, in hopes of diffusing some of the hype surrounding AMD and its recently announced 1GHz Athlon CPU. This morning, Intel issued a press release detailing the processor's capabilities and calling it "the world's highest performance microprocessor for PCs."

"Intel's Pentium III processor operating at 1GHz is the highest performance microprocessor for PCs, enabling Intel's customers to ship the fastest personal computers in the world,'' said Intel executive VP Paul Otellini. "Intel continues to provide the best performance today, and we have a microprocessor roadmap that will continue to keep our customers at the forefront of technology in the future."

Intel is shipping its new Coppermine in limited quantities to several computer builders, so except to see 1GHz Pentium III-equipped machines being offered from the likes of Dell and Compaq later this week. As for pricing, the CPU itself costs more than US$200 less than its Athlon counterpart in quantities of 1,000, but you can be sure that AMD will answer back with a price drop in the near future.