Intel Pentium 4 HT 3.06

The Intel Pentium 4 HT 3.06 is a desktop processor built around the NetBurst architecture, codenamed Northwood, and released in May 2003 for the Intel Socket 478 platform. The chip has 1 physical core and 2 threads, with a base clock of 3.06 GHz and no boost clock. Its cache hierarchy comprises 8 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2, with no L3. Fabricated on Intel's 130 nm process with 55 million transistors on a 146 mm² die, the part carries a 110W TDP and supports DDR1 or DDR2 memory without ECC. The database records its average benchmark score as 0, places it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, and lists no nearest rivals.

Benchmark Performance

The average benchmark score in the fact pack is 0. The benchmarks array is empty, so that zero is the database's placeholder for a processor with no recorded workload results. Because no scores exist, the nearestRivals field is also empty: no rival names, no rival scores, no deltaPct values. Every comparative ratio that would normally anchor a CPU listing is simply not part of the dataset for this chip.

Nor is the percentile rescued by measurement. percentileVsAllCpus is 50, which locates this CPU at the exact median of the whole database population. In a ranking of every CPU tracked by the site, half the entries fall above the Pentium 4 HT 3.06 and half below. That is a positional statement, not a performance verdict, and it cannot be turned into a per-test delta because the benchmarks array carries no entries.

Still, the median placement is not meaningless. The database's ranking machinery places a 2003-era NetBurst desktop part directly in the middle of its distribution. The structural facts available to contextualize that placement are the 1-core, 2-thread layout, the 3.06 GHz base clock, the 8 KB L1, the 512 KB L2, and the absence of any L3. No memory bus width is recorded, and memory bandwidth is likewise null, so the memory subsystem's contribution to any score baseline cannot be assessed from this data.

Power and Thermals

The 110W TDP is the defining thermal fact. A 110W envelope implies a substantial air cooler and a well-ventilated case; it is not a part that sits comfortably with minimal, low-profile cooling. Because the fact pack lists no boost clock, 3.06 GHz is both the floor and the ceiling, so the heat output is steady rather than bursty. There is no turbo state to raise or relax the thermal load.

The die facts put that TDP in context. Intel built this chip on a 130 nm process with 55 million transistors spread across 146 mm². The 110W power draw must be dissipated through that silicon and through whatever heatsink mounts onto Socket 478. A locked multiplier means the processor's clock ratio is fixed at the factory; no multiplier-based reduction path is exposed. The practical implication for a builder is straightforward: pair this CPU with the most capable Socket 478 cooler the case can fit. No cooling ratio or cooler size is supplied in the data, but the 110W figure sets the requirement.

Single-Thread vs Multi-Thread Behavior

The thread count is explicit: 1 core and 2 threads. The "HT" in the product name corresponds to that second thread — one physical core presenting two logical processors to the operating system. Each thread runs at the same 3.06 GHz base clock; the fact pack contains no boost clock and therefore no higher frequency for either thread.

A workload that uses one thread gets the whole core. The 8 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 are the entire cache hierarchy, with no L3 behind them, so a single thread has only that small staging area before memory access. A workload that uses two threads sees both logical threads, but those threads share the same core, the same 8 KB L1, and the same 512 KB L2. The database does not measure this trade-off: the benchmarks array is empty, so there is no single-thread score and no multi-thread score to separate. The 50th percentile aggregates nothing measurable, because the average benchmark score is 0.

The architecture label NetBurst explains why Hyper-Threading exists on a single core. NetBurst was designed around high clock speed and instruction-level parallelism, and the second thread exists to keep the core's pipeline busier. That interpretation comes from the architecture field in the pack, not from any measured result. What the data does support is a hard structural statement: a 1-core, 2-thread CPU cannot deliver two physical cores' worth of work, no matter how high the clock.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals list in the fact pack is empty. This CPU has no recorded rivals in the database, so there are no scores to compare and no deltaPct percentages to attach to any other product. The single quantitative coordinate is percentileVsAllCpus: 50, placing it at the median of the entire CPU population.

Because there are no rivals, the comparison structure collapses to a single point: the Pentium 4 HT 3.06 sits exactly in the middle of the database, and the database names no specific competitor within any measured distance. With an empty nearestRivals array there are no per-rival paragraphs to write. The absence of rivals is itself a data point — it follows directly from the zero average benchmark score, which leaves the ranking system nothing to measure against. The 50th percentile gives a position but no magnitude relative to adjacent entries; no neighbor entries exist to measure that distance.

Platform and Compatibility

Platform facts are plentiful. The Pentium 4 HT 3.06 fits Intel Socket 478, and its production status is end-of-life. Memory support covers DDR1 and DDR2, with no ECC support. The memory bus width is not recorded, and memory bandwidth is null, so the platform's theoretical memory throughput is absent from the data. The upgrade path is effectively closed: end-of-life status and a 2003 release date place this processor as the terminal part in its own data row.

PCIe support is absent from the record: the pcie field is null, with no generation or lane count listed. Integrated graphics appear only as a chipset feature on certain motherboards, meaning display output was a board-level matter rather than something carried on this CPU die. The market segment is Desktop. The multiplier is locked, so the 3.06 GHz base clock is the factory-set frequency. The Northwood codename and NetBurst architecture, together with the 130 nm process and 55 million transistors, complete the compatibility picture: this is a legacy desktop platform, and any board pairing must be sought in Socket 478 hardware from that era.

Who Should Consider It

The recommendation has to be grounded in the numbers that exist. This CPU is a 1-core, 2-thread part with a 3.06 GHz base clock, 8 KB of L1, 512 KB of L2, no L3, a 110W TDP, and a 50th percentile position in the database. Its average benchmark score is 0, and its nearestRivals array is empty, so every recommendation below is structural rather than measured.

For gaming, the single core at 3.06 GHz is the relevant asset; the second thread does not double the core count. The 512 KB L2 and 8 KB L1 are the only cache levels, so data that outgrows them falls back to DDR1 or DDR2 memory, whose bandwidth is not even quantified in the pack. For creation workloads that scale with multiple physical cores, the 1-core ceiling is decisive: only 2 logical threads exist, and both share that one core. The same structural limit also constrains modern productivity suites that expect more than one physical core.

For office and light desktop work, 2 threads on one core at 3.06 GHz can drive a basic system, particularly on motherboards whose chipsets provide the integrated graphics described in the pack. End-of-life production status and the May 2003 release date mean this belongs in a retro build or a secondary machine rather than a primary workstation. The 50th percentile placement says it is neither a high-end outlier nor a bottom-tier chip in the database's all-CPU ranking; the zero average score says the database has no direct measurements to confirm either extreme. Anyone whose workloads demand multiple physical cores, larger caches, or modern memory should pass, based on the structural facts: 1 core, 512 KB of L2, no L3, DDR1 or DDR2 memory support, and no PCIe information in the record.