Intel Corp., world’s largest chipmaker, has announced four new additions to its desktop line of microprocessors.

Although the four editions bring little from a speed perspective, Intel has boasted with quite a bit of features for the next generation of computing experience. The latest line of 6xx series of microprocessors is equipped with 2MB of L2 cache, as opposed to 1MB on its 5xx series.

Specifically, the model numbers include 630 at 3.00GHz, 640 at 3.20GHz, 650 at 3.40GHz and 660 at 3.60GHz. The company also announced a 3.73GHz Intel Extreme Edition (EE) processor with 1066MHz of system bus, which is mainly designed for the ultimate PC enthusiasts.

As mentioned earlier, Intel is focusing more on the chip’s feature set rather than clock speeds. Firstly, Intel’s Pentium 4 has been limited, as far as clock speeds are concerned, so Intel doesn’t have much of a choice in that arena. Secondly, Intel is heading forward with technologies that its rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced back in 2003 with the introduction of its Athlon 64 64-bit microprocessors.

Intel’s newly announced chips add the previously missing 64-bit instructions to the aforementioned line of microprocessors. The only thing to wait for now is the introduction of Microsoft’s 64-bit Windows XP version, which should enter the market sometime before the summer time frame.

According to industry analysts, these chips are mere filler until Intel (along with AMD) can bring in their dual-core microprocessors, which are due by the end of summer as well.

HP and Gateway both have plans to support Intel with its new chips and the firms reported that they will have all four microprocessors available in their desktop computers by March 9th at the latest.

The 630 will cost $224, 640 will retail around $273, 650 will cost $401, 660 will run for $650 and the 3.73GHz will cost around $999 in 1,000 quantities, respectively.