“When I attended AMD technology day last Thursday, senior AMD managers poked fun at Intel’s NetBurst architecture and the fact that Intel will be “going back to their previous generation architecture, and that would be an improvement”. Most of the industry analysts in attendance began to laugh in the room and I couldn’t quite figure out what’s so funny and if they would still be laughing next month when Intel’s Core2 architecture is released,” George Ou writes for ZDNet.
“Last Friday when I saw the first set of independent benchmark results pitting a mid-end Intel E6600 ‘Conroe’ 2.4 GHz CPU (due next month) against the just released flagship extreme edition AMD FX-62 CPU, I started wondering if AMD worst nightmare was coming true. Intel’s ~$250 E6600 CPU annihilated AMD’s ~$1000 Extreme Edition AM2 based FX-62! This effectively means that AMD’s flagship desktop performance CPU will be obsolete by the end of next month when Intel released the CPUs codenamed Conroe. The 2.4 GHz Conroe E6600 CPU is a 65 watt part while Intel’s Extreme Edition Conroe CPU will operate at 2.93 GHz and still be 40 watts lower than AMD’s FX-62 which runs at 120 watt TDP. AMD’s power advantage over Intel’s current Pentium 4 NetBurst architecture just vanished in to thin air with the introduction of Intel’s Core 2 architecture next month,” Ou writes. “If that wasn’t enough of a beating, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes who writes for our new “Hardware 2.0” blog linked to these phenomenal overclocking feats with the Conroe 2.4 and Conroe 2.6 GHz CPUs clocking to 4.0 GHz and 4.26 GHz respectively! I’m hearing that these kinds of numbers can be achieved with self-contained water coolers from multiple sources while the AMD FX-62 can barely get to 3.6 GHz with sub-zero temperatures.”
“AMD pointed out that they’ve been ahead of the game for 3 years (on most benchmarks and the results were always close) and it’s inevitable for Intel to have a slight lead once in a while. The problem here is that this new Intel lead is not the usual leapfrogging where one competitor edges out the other, it’s a massive lead across the board,” Ou writes. “The Core 2 architecture will only be around for 2 more years until Intel shifts to something new. I asked Intel’s representative if this is the kind of paranoia that would make Andy Grove proud and he laughed. The truth of the matter is that AMD is what’s making Intel paranoid because they’ve taken a beating for the last 2 years at the hands of AMD. Who’s going to win the processor wars doesn’t matter because this is competition at its best and the consumer is the ultimate winner with better products at lower prices so let the wars begin!”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Capitalism at its finest. Wouldn’t it be nice to see such paranoia on the part of Microsoft in regard to their flag-crate Windows? Get a Mac, force Microsoft to attempt to make a better Windows (without copying Apple’s work for once, please). And, then, may the best platform win (for a change). Anyway, it certainly sounds like Apple picked the right horse in the processor race; the one with massive resources that also has the renewed will to win.
Advertisements:
• Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook. Starting at just $1099
• Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
• Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
Related articles:
Smart companies should consider Apple Macs to cut IT costs – June 06, 2006
Apple makes Intel Think Different; Mac-maker influencing Intel’s product roadmap – June 06, 2006
Intel says Core 2 Duo will ‘enable breakthrough performance’ – June 06, 2006
Report: Apple nears Xserve, ‘Mac Pro’ Intel switch – June 01, 2006
Intel gets aggressive on next-gen rollout schedules: Merom MacBook Pros, Conroe Power Macs, more – May 03, 2006
