What's In A Naming Convention?

clock processor

Intel processors now will be designated by a processor family followed by a processor number; for example, Intel Pentium M 735. The bad news is the new naming convention is not at all intuitive. While the processor family part of the name is straightforward, solution providers will have to memorize the features associated with each processor number to make recommendations to customers.

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JOHN YACONO

Can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

The challenge to using three-digit processor numbers is that they must differentiate the front-side bus speed, cache size, die architecture, clock speed and other processor characteristics. The numbers must cover so much ground that higher numbers will not necessarily mean better performance, which will surely confuse customers, at least in the short term.

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Intel plans to rename all of its processors, such as the Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M.

To make matters worse, the first digit in the number is a bit superfluous, as it more or less represents the processor family. The processor family-portion of the name does a better job of making that clear. If the first digit is the number 3, the processor could be Celeron D for desktops, a Celeron M or Celeron M ULV for notebooks. If the number 5 is the first digit, the processor could be one of many Pentium 4 processors for desktop or mobile applications. The only first digit that is clearly tied to an application is the number 7, which includes Pentium M, Pentium M Low Voltage and Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage processors, which all are for mobile platforms.

Intel's naming convention change may force AMD to change its designations. AMD has been using model numbers that hint at their equivalent Intel clock speed. It will be interesting to see how it markets new processors moving forward.

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How will the changes affect you? Let me know via e-mail at [email protected].