Help: AMD Vs Intel again but Its not what you think.

OmegaRed

I’m in college studying information systems and in two weeks start my exams. One of your lectures was kind enough to tell us that one of the questions on the paper will be basically AMD Vs Intel. So if possible im looking for HARD facts to compare and contrast AMD right across the board. To do with processors from the early days to present. From 32 bit to 64 bit computing. Advantages and disadvantages…. etc Everything is relevant. I’m not looking for essays or anything from ppl (although that would be nice) just one or 2 line facts that I can go off and research on my own then.

Thanks for any contributions

OR

Khannie

ok, here's some stuff that I know for sure:

AMD is allowed to use the x86 instruction set through agreement with Intel. This agreement states that Intel is entitled to use any extensions that AMD makes. This is what allows intel to use the AMD64 instruction set royalty free.

Itanium was intels big hope for 64bit, and it has (for all intents and purposes) fallen on its face because of AMD's 64bit extensions to the 32bit 686 instruction set. It's (maybe) a pity because it looked like it might have been a decent architecture.

Intel processors use an off-chip memory controller.
AMD ones use an on-chip memory controller. This (in part) facilitates equivalent processing power at lower frequencies.

Both companies make lots of money from non-processor stuff.

Good luck.

SouperComputer

jasus, where do you want to start?

Heres a snippet anyway: AMD were the first to break past the 1Ghz barrier around the year 2000. This is from memory though you will have to check it out.

might be some info in wikipedia for you too

caff

check out tomshardware.com

www.tomshardware.com



http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/13/the_amd_and_intel_energy_crisis/

http://www.digital-daily.com/editorial/amd-history/

gamer

I think amd64 cpu,s can run x86 32bit software ,and also 64bit programs or operating systems ,so itel has still to catch up to to produce a mass market ,64bit cpu that is as powerful and backwardly/compatible with all 32bit software .AMD cpus tend to be as fast as intel cpus ,in the same price range , while being 20 to 30per cent cheaper, and are popular with pc builders ,and people who buy pc for games, ie hardcore gamers.As the yanks say , they give more bang per buck ,better value than intel cpus.

8T8

Check out the wiki entries for the P4 and P3 while not definitive they will give you some idea, Intel’s CPU were high clock speed and power guzzlers though they have a new architecture that was created by their team responsible for their mobile products that adopts a similar theory to AMD's CPU and they will be on a more equal footing with AMD this year when ti comes to performance though AMD isn’t sitting still either..

I would suggest reading this article on AMD K8 cores which are the basis for the current Athlon 64 and Opterons.

In short AMD have been one step ahead of Intel for the past few years, most notable was the u-turn by Intel on x86 64-bit support Intel had resisted this for many years hoping to drive the market towards Itanium its own 64-bit solution but it never got the ball rolling down hill, AMD released its x86 64bit cores that could do 32-bit and 64-bit and eventually due to market forces and a little help from Microsoft (as MS is pro x86 64-bit) Intel capitulated and created what is called EMT64 which is a clone of AMD 64-bit extensions for the x86 architecture. Even some of Intel’s first docs on explaining the technology for engineers had lifted text from AMD's as is! that was later removed of course and Intel had the gall to stand up and proclaim its 64-bit support as the best thing since sliced bread.

Its not only in the desktop CPU arena that AMD has been dominant performance wise in the server market they really have begun to make head way in what was once an Intel only club even former Intel die hards like Supermicro do AMD servers along with the big names like Sun and HP now, Intel’s Xenon CPU's just can beat the Opteron when it comes to price/performance though Intel will be fighting back with its new architecture at the end of this year.

What Intel is has done well over the past few years is mobile tech the Centrino technology platform was a big success and really put the hurt on any other mobile competitors AMD has tried to counter with its Turion CPU's but though they match performance they still do not match the better battery life of Intel’s parts.