It is logical to assume that one development trend for the P4 processors will be toward higher clock frequencies. Increases in clock frequency for the P4 produce a proportionately greater increase in performance than increases in clock frequency for the P3. Some critics argue (Mihocka, 2001) that the P4 is less efficient then the P3 in terms of clock cycles to complete various benchmarks. Intel claims that the P4 was designed to operate at higher clock frequencies and compares the P4 to the P3 at dissimilar clock frequencies.

Future versions of the P4 will have better price versus performance than current versions due to their higher clock rate. When a processor has been designed to run at a higher clock frequency the cost of increasing the clock frequency is low compared the the increased cost of a new micro architecture.

Further performance gains will come from the software side. Software developers can take advantage of the P4 architecture by using NetBurst optimized libraries and optimizing compilers. Microsoft Visual C++ with the processor pack,  Intel C++ 5.0 and Intel FORTRAN 5.0 support the P4 architecture.

One enhancement to reduce the cost of a complete P4 system is using the SDRAM memory instead of the RDRAM memory. The new Intel i845 chipset allows the use of SDRAM or DDRAM. SDRAM support is expected in the second half of 2001 and DDRAM is expected to be supported by first quarter of 2002 (Altavilla, 2001).

Increasing the clock frequency will increase the power a processor consumes and thus the heat load a processor must dissipate. Different cooling techniques will be required on a system level to allow the P4 to achieve dramatically higher clock frequencies. In the near term cooling can be accomplished using forced convection with a plenum directing air over the processor and memory. There is already interest in vapor compression cooling for high performance desktop computers?Peeples, 2001).

Power consumption can be reduced by reducing the clock frequency. Although this negates some of the advantages of the P4, it could be useful for portable computers. For example, when the computer is plugged into the wall it would operate at a higher clock frequency than when it is operating off battery. Intel already has a technology called SpeedStep that does this.

Another way to reduce power consumption is to reduce the voltage levels. The 1.5GHz P4 runs at 1.7 to 1.75 volts. We have found nothing to indicate that Intel is planning a lower voltage version of the P4 at this time.