TODAY MARKS what feels like a significant milestone in the history of the personal computer: Intel is releasing the first processor officially to hit a 2GHz—that's 2000MHz—clock speed. This is a big event in a couple of ways. It's certainly a marketing opportunity, and a well-timed one, with the release of Windows XP expected to drive PC sales through the back-to-school season and into the holidays. It's also Intel's best opportunity yet to catch the x86 performance leader, AMD's Athlon, and retake the performance crown.

Last we checked in a big processor benchmark roundup, the 1.8GHz Pentium 4 was trailing close behind the 1.4GHz Athlon. Since then, AMD has laid low, holding back on releasing a new Athlon speed grade. If the Pentium 4 2GHz can catch the 1.4GHz Athlon, Intel will have pulled off a neat double play, reaching 2GHz and retaking the performance lead at once.

We'll investigate whether Intel has accomplished this goal. We'll also consider in more depth what, if anything, the 2GHz milestone really means to the PC market. Read on to get the scoop.