When first released, Intel's Pentium 4 CPU was heavily criticised for performing poorly in current applications. Intel claimed that its 'NetBurst' architecture would allow the Pentium 4's clock speed to be increased to levels previously unheard of, and thus performance would increase in time, but it has only been in the last few months that Intel have completely taken the speed crown back from AMD, with the release of the P4 2.53GHz proving that AMD's fastest AthlonXP CPUs could no longer keep up with Intel.