Intel Brings Hyper-Threading to Pentium Chips

Intel's Pentium-class processors, designed for budget PCs, will get hyper-threading technology that lets them run multiple tasks on a single processor core.

Intel's new hyper-threading Pentium CPUs are based on the Kaby Lake architecture, which also powers the latest Core i3, i5, and i7 processors. Intel announced those devices at CES last week, and appears to have quietly added the new Pentiums to its product listings, ExtremeTech reports.

The hyper-threading feature was last available in Pentium-class chips with the Pentium 4, which was introduced in 2004. At the time, they were the only processors to feature it; even the first-generation Core processors, introduced in 2006, didn't have it.

But as the Pentium brand transitioned to lower-end desktops and laptops and the Core series gained hyper-threading technology, newer Pentiums dropped the feature. Now, all Kaby Lake-based processors will support the technology.

There are five new Pentium processors listed on Intel's product page, from the 2.9 GHz G4560T to the 3.7 GHz G4620. The G4620 is 100MHz faster than its predecessor and offers support for Intel's TSX-NI instructions, Memory Protection Extensions, and Intel's OS Guard platform protection technology, ExtremeTech notes. That signals that Intel intends to offer them to enterprise customers, which hasn't been the target market for Pentium-powered PCs.

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Intel Unveils Kaby Lake Processor Details

The addition of the new Pentium chips is the latest step in a gradual Kaby Lake refresh that began in August for notebooks and portables, followed by last week's announcement that extended the lineup to desktops and workstations.

Meanwhile, Intel competitor AMD announced its own refreshed processor lineup last month. Called "Ryzen," it will be rolled out gradually over a four-year period.