The first PCs based on Intel's highly anticipated dual-core Pentium processor have begun to hit the market. Velocity Micro unveiled its DCX line on Tuesday, equipped with Intel's Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 840 processor running at speeds of up to 4.0 GHz.

Alongside the Raptor DCX model, which is aimed at gamers, Velocity has unveiled the ProMagix DCX multimedia machine and the ProMagix W140 DCX professional workstation.

Velocity's Raptor will have to compete in a market where machines running AMD's powerful Athlon 64 are already popular in the gaming community

"Gamers are fickle," noted Velocity Micro spokeswoman Kate Bokelman. "They'll go with whatever they think is the fastest." She noted that the company has been offering AMD-based 64-bit PCs for several months. AMD hasn't released its dual core machines, although the firm is expected to unveil them this spring or summer.

In positioning its systems, Velocity is emphasizing its LiquiCool fluid cooling system. With liquid cooling, a configuration can run at 4.0GHz, the company said, adding that it will also ship models at the processor's 3.2GHz default speed. Faster systems utilizing the fluid cooling technology will be offered at 3.6GHz and 3.8GHz as well at 4.0GHz.

Pricing for the new machines hasn't yet been set, Bokelman said. The systems are scheduled for delivery late in the second quarter.

Along with 64-bit processing, the dual-core Pentium processors powering the new systems feature Intel's HyperThreading technology. That enables a total of four processing threads to run simultaneously.

"We tested early versions of the Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 840 processor," said Velocity Micro president and founder Randy Copeland in a statement. "It's perfectly suited for power users who run several applications on their computer simultaneously, and as more games are coded to utilize the multithreading capabilities of this technology, gamers will reach new levels of immersive play."

Velocity isn't the only systems house rushing dual-core computers to market. Dell is expected to include the Intel dual core processors in its Dell Dimension XPS Gen5 gaming family. And gaming computer manufactures Falcon West Computer Systems and Alienware have been working with Intel to design the new Pentium 4 silicon into their systems.