Pentium 4 based PC's will get a performance boost next week when Intel Corp. begins shipping its i875 chipset, formerly known by the code name Canterwood. The new chipset revs up the highest speed of the front-side bus used with Pentium 4 chips from 533MHz to 800MHz. Intel has scheduled a press conference to be held in Taipei on April 15 to announce the new chipset. To coincide with the launch of the 875, Intel also plans to release a version of its 3GHz Pentium 4 chip that will support the faster bus speed. Additional Pentium 4 processors that support the 800MHz front-side bus supported by the 875 are expected to be released in the near future. The 875 is the first of two chipsets that Intel will unveil that supports the 800MHz front-side bus. A second chipset, known by the code name Springdale, is expected to ship in May, according to motherboard makers. In addition to support for the faster front-side bus, Springdale incorporates a revamped architecture that Intel says will boost the performance of Gigabit Ethernet networking performance. Engineering samples of 2.6GHz and 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processors that support the new 800MHz front-side bus, both yet to be announced by Intel, were on display Wednesday in at least one shop in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district. Staff at the shop, called Jyanpara, were unable to provide any more information on the chips, including an anticipated launch date and price. Source: ITworld