Some analysts suppose that in the beginning of next year Intel may have to resort to processor rating, like the one used now by AMD to mark its Athlon XP processors. If Intel decides to do it, it will look pretty inconsistently, because a few months ago they criticized AMD severely exactly for the use of this rating, which reflected not the actual frequency but the performance of AMD processors.

Now Intel with its flagman Pentium 4 processor is “ahorse” so to speak. The working frequencies of Pentium 4 processor with its long pipeline grow really fast, and this feature is an indisputable trump of Intel. However, in case of CPUs based on other architectures the company may find out that their working frequencies appear considerably lower than those of Pentium 4 CPUs even though their performance will be higher. How will Intel explain it to the customers who buy “Gigahertz” that the new CPUs are better than the old ones? No idea…

Meanwhile, the moment when Intel will have to answer this question is coming closer and closer. As is known, in early 2003 the mobile Pentium 4-M family will be replaced with a new generation of mobile CPUs developed specifically for notebooks. This will be the Banias family. Now we have no credible info about the possible marketing name for the new CPUs coming, however, as the rumors say it might appear Mobilum brand name.

The architecture of Banias processors will be very much different from Pentium 4-M: they will have shorter pipeline but increased up to 1MB L2 cache.

That is why in the end of the year Pentium 4-M family with the working frequencies lying between 2GHz and 2.6GHz will be replaced by Banias based processors working only at 1.3-1.6GHz. How will Intel marketing people manage to convince the users that the new Banias will be faster than the old Pentium 4-M, is a secret. At the same time Banias 1.6GHz is expected to be faster than Pentium 4-M 2.6GHz and to dissipate considerably less heat. For instance, TDP (Thermal Design Power) for Banias CPUs will make 20-25W, while the fastest Pentium 4-M models will have TDP=35W.

Some analysts suppose that to make the new Banias CPUs a success Intel will have to think of a certain metrics showing their superiority over Pentium 4-M CPUs. Note that Intel has never introduced any ratings before and always used the core clock frequency to indicate the CPU speed. All the competitors’ attempts to introduce a performance rating were cruelly mocked at. Now it looks as if Intel were about to be in competitors’ boots.

We expect new Banias details touching upon its architecture, performance and promotion to appear in September at the upcoming Intel Developer Forum and in October at Microprocessor Forum.