I want this discussion to take a slightly different route than the Pentium 4 Pros and Cons discussion of last week. Here, we already know how the Pentium 4 performs. If you have not, I suggest you check out the following sites. www.sharkyextreme.com (if you haven't been here yet, what are you doing on the forums ) www.anandtech.com www.tomshardware.com www.aceshardware.com

I want to concentrate this discussion on the following topics.

A) Pure performance. At 1.5GHz, the Pentium 4 is underwhelming. However, from multiple prerelease scores leaked around the Internet, expectations were down. However, in light of current offerings from other processor families, how do you rate the Pentium 4 in regards to the Pentium III 1GHz, the Athlon with 1.2GHz SDR, and the Athlon 1.2GHz with DDR.

B) Performance with individual programs. It is clear that the Pentium 4 really underperforms with Office Productivity software. How would this affect you. Do you think that Office Productivity does not need to go faster anyways, or is it a big deal for you? How about video and audio encoding. The Pentium 4 beats all compeition with video, but audio seems to lag. How do you feel about this? Next, how about 3D games? The Pentium 4 really accelerates Quake III, yet Expendable seriously underperforms. MDK and Unreal Tournement seem at parity. What is you comment here, and do you have a technical explaination on why the performance varies so much? Finally, workstation apps really underperform, including 3D Studio. How do you feel about this, and do you have any technical information about why this happens?

C) Optimizations. This is a common theme among reviewers. Even AMD biased Tom Pabst agrees that the Pentium 4 will grow with time, and with optimizations, especially SSE-2. How do you think these enhansements will affect programs mentioned above. Also, how long do you expect these optimizations to filter into the market? Finally, do you think AMD's K8 system will be able to take advantage of such optimizations in SSE-2 when it is released?

D) Overclocking. Sharky and Tom Pabst both have looked into overclocking. Sharky was able to adjust the multiplier to reach 1.6GHz, and Tom was able to adjust both multiplier and front side bus to achieve speeds of up to 1.73GHz. Holy Moly, that's fast! Clearly this demonstrates superiority in the Pentium 4 design with regard to clock speed. It also shows that 1.7GHz Pentium 4 chips are right around the corner. How do you feel about this? Does overclocking add value to the Pentium 4?

E) Future products. This will be mostly speculation, but I want to hear discussions on how you think the Pentium 4 will compete with Palomino. Do you think that faster clock speeds will allow the Pentium 4 to keep up? Do you think that Palomino will be able to be as low priced as the Thunderbird? Also, how do you see price being affected for Intel and AMD over the next months. Finally, do you expect Intel's second generation Pentium 4, Northwood, to increase performance and compete with Palomino?

Let's hear your discussions. Opinions are welcome, as long as you can back yourself up. One line opinions are not appropriate, in other words. Any technical knowledge is encouraged, since this is the technical forum. I look forward to hearing from you guys.