Pentium 4 3.06GHz machine reviewed

HIGH END PC users may already be familiar with Intel's HT (hyperthreading) technology thanks to its appearance in the Xeon range of processors. But for the average home and small business user, the 3.06GHz Pentium 4 chip will be their first glimpse of a concept that Intel hopes will be an integral part of every future processor release.

Thought processors
The thinking behind HT is that a huge amount of processing power is wasted by giving one gigantic chip a single set of instructions to process. By making a virtual duplicate of the Pentium 4 chip and fooling the PC into thinking that it actually has two processors on board rather than one, HT technology can hand out tasks to both 'processors' at the same time.

Operating systems such as Windows XP, 2000 and Linux are already designed to take advantage of HT technology. By breaking down tasks into a number of 'threads', each one of which can be sent to a single processor, these operating systems can handle two or four processors just as easily as one — they simply need to send out more threads at a time.

Good news
This would appear to be good news for HT users, since the multi-threading capabilities can be sampled in many of today's applications. Unfortunately, until programmers start designing software with HT in mind its effectiveness will vary from title to title.

The video encoding results were superb: the Pentium 4 completed our tests in little more than six minutes, giving it the fastest time of any PC by a clear 30-second margin. In fact, for high-end graphics applications (ray tracers, games and so on) HT looks to be the ideal choice.

On the other hand, PC Advisor's own test suite, WorldBench 4, struggled to make sense of HT. The score of 124 with HT disabled was disappointing for a 3.06GHz chip, but it was far more impressive than the 118 notched up when HT was turned on. This highlights the fact that, in some cases, HT technology will cause the two 'processors' to get in each other's way. HT will not go away, so most software programmers will probably design future titles in order to play to the strengths of the technology. Nonetheless, Intel's claims of 20 percent speed increases look wide of the mark.

Hi-Grade, high-spec
HT's superb graphics performance may draw video enthusiasts to the Hi-Grade which boasts a graphics subsystem — featuring the current benchmark in graphics cards, the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro — that's almost as good as it gets. Elsewhere this PC's specifications are no less impressive. There's 512MB of DDR (double data rate) RAM onboard and a massive 160GB Maxtor hard drive. Not so fresh, but lent finesse by the rock-steady image and sizzling colour palette, Mitsubishi's Diamond Pro 920 remains a superior 19in CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor.

Hi-Grade also proves how easy it is to put together a superlative sound system, pairing the Creative Audigy with the six-piece Inspire 5300 speakers, while the 2.4-speed DVD+RW Ricoh drive deservedly holds a commanding position atop our DVD writers chart.

Verdict
The Hi-Grade is generally a good system and HT is an interesting technology that may grow in stature. But performance is likely to remain inconsistent for the next few months. Combine this with the steep £1,701 price tag and the Ultis looks more an expensive experiment then an unmissable deal.

Details
Price £1,701.00 (ex. VAT)
Contact 020 8532 6100
Website click here We cannot guarantee the availability of this PC

Specifications
3.06GHz Intel Pentium 4
512MB DDR RAM
160GB hard drive
32x12x10x CD-RW
2.4/2.4x DVD-RW
16x DVD-ROM
19in monitor
Windows XP Home
3-year onsite warranty.

Scoring
Build quality 8/10
Features 9/10
Value for money 6/10

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