Intel on Thursday will offer an early look at its latest chipsets at a pair of events in New York and San Francisco

The chipmaker's preview of its Intel 915 Express and Intel 925 Express chipsets, at events set up specifically to show them off, comes just a few days ahead of their official debut in desktop PCs, which sources say is scheduled for Monday. The previews of the chips are the latest in a string of smaller unveilings Intel has orchestrated in recent months. The company also discussed the chips earlier this month at the Computex trade show in Taiwan, for example. The new chipsets assist in shuttling data to and from the processor and controlling input/output in a manner analogous to a person's central nervous system. They will a offer number of enhancements for desktops, Intel says, ranging from the ability to support faster memory to higher-performance graphics. They'll also make it possible to include an optional wireless access point in a PC. Together, the chipsets and several new Pentium 4 processors, which are expected to include a Pentium 4 560 running at 3.6GHz, will usher in a variety of new desktop PCs, all of which will have greater performance than today's desktops, the company said. Many will also include the built-in wireless access point option, dubbed Intel Wireless Connect Technology.