“In a head-to-head comparison, the CRN Test Center put Intel’s soon-to-be-released Core 2 Extreme Processor and AMD’s top-of-the-line Athlon FX62 Dual Core processor through the paces. Initial test results show that Intel’s latest processor lives up to the hype and outpaces AMD’s best by almost 28 percent,” Frank J. Ohlhorst reports for CRN.

Ohlhorst reports, “Intel’s advances on AMD’s territory doesn’t end with just performance, but also includes lower power requirements and reduced costs, a combination that could prove fatal to AMD’s growth in the desktop processor market. What’s more, AMD is several months away from anything new in the desktop processor market, leaving the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s current Athlon product line very vulnerable to the mammoth marketing machine of Intel, Santa Clara, Calif.”

“With the systems configured as close to equal as possible, Intel outpaced AMD by almost 28 percent. To narrow down where the CPU’s strengths and weaknesses are, Test Center engineers dove a little further into the tests to look at individual benchmarks. For example, the X6800 scored a 261.5 for integer math, while the FX62 scored a 172.6,” Ohlhorst reports. “Another test showed that the Intel X6800 scored a 1,351.6 for CPU image rotation, while the AMD FX62 scored 765.3.”

“Intel’s re-emergence as a performance leader will fuel a new performance war on the desktop, with pricing and availability being the primary weapons used,” Ohlhorst reports. “The real challenge ahead for both vendors and for the channel alike is generating the need for these advanced technologies on today’s corporate desktops.”

More info and benchmarks in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "David G." for the heads up.]

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