As you have already guessed, the price of the Intel Pentium 4-1.8 GHz is not in the same ballpark as the AMD Athlon. The new Pentium 4-1.8 GHz currently carries a price tag of approximately $460 USD, which compares to the $150 cost of an Athlon 1.4 GHz. In actuality, the only Pentium 4 less expensive than the Athlon 1.4 GHz is the Pentium 4-1.3 GHz model. While this would seemingly put Intel at a disadvantage, consider that many buyers will pay a premium for an Intel Pentium 4 and that the $300 price difference is a lot more palatable when combined into a $3,000 system. That said, on a CPU-to-CPU comparison, the AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz comes out well ahead of the Pentium 4-1.8 GHz in terms of overall value.

Recently, there has been some concern that one of the Pentium 4 features could adversely effect performance. You see, the Pentium 4 has on-chip temperature monitoring that allows the processor to go into slow-down mode should the CPU cooling fan burn out, or if the heatsink becomes dislodged. This is a great feature, which is incidentally not found on current Athlon processors, and provides a little extra protection for you expensive CPU investment.

Where the potential for issues comes in is if the Pentium 4 actually throttles down its core speed when everything is working fine, such as during a hot spell. Although previous Pentium 4 processors were shown to be rock solid in stress testing, it never hurts to confirm this with the faster models as well. Thankfully, we had the Pentium 4-1.8 GHz in the reference box during one of the hottest weeks in a long time, so the gauntlet was thrown.

The window was opened, the door sealed, and the Pentium 4 was given a heavy diet of Unreal Tournament followed by Quake 3 demos, and then left to run 3DMark 2001 in a loop. The result? After confirming a few Quake 3 scores and loading a diagnostic program, the Pentium 4-1.8 GHz was confirmed as running at its full-rated speed even under some seriously hot circumstances. As long as you keep the heatsink attached properly and the fan is blowing (and you are not literally living inside an oven), the Pentium 4-1.8 GHz looks to be just as stable as the previous Pentium 4 versions.

Comparing processor temperatures using different motherboards and on-board sensors is a difficult process, but even using external monitors the Pentium 4-1.8 GHz ran a bit cooler than the Athlon 1.4 GHz. By no means is it a cool-running processor like the Celeron or Pentium III, but even at the 1.8 GHz speed, its core heat is not quite in Athlon territory just yet.

The biggest concern with the Pentium 4-1.8 GHz is exactly how long it'll be top dog and for how much longer the Socket 423 platform will be the mainstream Intel choice. With the Pentium 4 Northwood looming over the horizon, the prospect of buying a Pentium 4-1.8 GHz becomes a tougher call. Purchasing a Pentium 4 Socket 423 system right now is not a big deal, as long as you realize that future upgrade options will be a bit less flexible. Then again, many gamers go and buy a new PC, proceed to run it into the ground, then run out a few years later and buy another. Whichever market segment you're in, the upcoming Northwood debut will have vastly different effects on your Pentium 4 buying decision.