Pentium 4 Requires New Case And Power Supply
An unnamed correspondent writes: "It turns out that, for the Pentium 4, we're all going to need to buy a new case and power supply. The standard heatsink will weigh 450g (about 1 pound) and will therefore need four supports below the CPU, supports that require a new motherboard tray. Also, the Pentium 4 will need a new power supply with a new four-connector plug. This means that, if you want a Pentium 4, your old case and power supply will have to go. :( SE has more on it in their IDF Report." A little like AT / ATX and all the cousins; it's not that surprising that something has to give, but a shame that some of today's very nice cases will have to be tossed or modified to fit the P4.
A Pentium IV is not the same as a Pentium III.
It has a 20 stage pipeline instead of 10 stage, a 400 MHz system bus instead of 133 Mhz, SSE2 with 144 new instructions, an "advanced transfer cache", and other changes.
There's an article describing some of the differences here.
On the other hand the PIII 1.13 GHz really is just an overclocked PIII 1 Ghz. That's probably the source of your confusion.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
"HTML needs a rant tag" - Alan Cox
Don't discount the value of a nice case. Especially for people who *do* do a lot of upgrading, having a case that makes such things easy is a Good Thing. Cheap cases may have poor circulation, causing overheating, or be too flimsy, causing high-RPM drives to vibrate and eventually damage themselves. Stamped edges that haven't been finsished can cut you, and inadequite motherboard support can cause PCI cards to not seat well. Inferior power supplies may drop out under load or heat, and damage peripherals (I have had this happen 3 times with cheap cases--that is a major reason I get high quality stuff, too).
Like my monitor, I consider a high quality case to be an investment that will last through several CPU generations. Having to go buy a new one (If I weren't going to switch to AMD) would not kill me, but it is rather annoying.
Unlike ISA, current case designs, power supplies, etc. are adequate. Unlike ISA, better alternatives do not exist (e.g., PCI). If any processor needs the kind of power that only this new type of motherboard can accomidate, and then needs to radiate it away with a one pound(!) heatsink, the processor has problems, not the case/motherboard/power supply technology.