Pentium 4 overhaul set for 2005

Code-named "Nehalem," the next-generation Pentium 4 CPU will feature a new architecture that will substantially differ from the current Pentium 4's architecture, according to sources. Concepts in the current chip line will be found in Nehalem, but it will contain new, and largely unknown, features such as improved power management that will mark it as a distinct evolutionary step, similar to the changeover from the Pentium III to the Pentium 4.

In the meantime, Intel is also working on updates to the Pentium 4. In the second half of 2003, the company will release "Prescott," a Pentium 4 variant that will feature a new security system and "strained silicon," a chipmaking method that speeds up transistors.

In the first part of 2004, the company will release "Tejas," which will likely be an enhanced version of Prescott. "Dothan," a successor to the upcoming notebook chip "Banias," will appear around the same time.

Intel declined to comment on Nehalem, Tejas, and Dothan. Various sources, though, confirmed the names, which were first published by PC Watch, a computer magazine in Japan.