Intel will formally announce 64-bit Pentium 4 processors on 1 August - just over a month after launching the first Xeon CPU with its EM64 technology. So claim sources "familiar with Intel"s plans" via a timetable leaked to Xbit Labs.
The 1 August date is well ahead of Intel"s broad desktop release timeframe, which pegs the arrival of 64-bit desktop Pentium 4s to the availability of "Longhorn", the next major release of Windows. The solution to the conundrum is simple: Intel is enabling 64-bit processing in the Pentium 4 chips it sells into the single-processor workstation market, and they"re unlikely to be offered in single, boxed quantities. We understand that the 64-bit P4s will be priced much the same as current desktop-oriented P4s at comparable clock speeds