AMD vs. Intel, page 2

[Continued from Page 1]

The Processors
In order to conduct a balanced comparison, we must address a very basic issue about processor performance vs. cost.  When comparing Intel and AMD, should be primary reference be based on processor cost, or on processor clock speed?  Today’s 1K unit CPU prices and clock speeds are shown in the table below. 

CPU Prices table

It is shocking to observe this tremendous price and clock speed delta between the Athlon and P3 processors. There are two domains in which performance comparisons can be done. One is on a clock for clock basis, and the other is on a dollar for dollar basis.  Considering a clock for clock basis we should face off the 1GHz Athlon against the 1GHz P3.  Considering a dollar for dollar basis, we should compare the 1GHz P3 with the faster 1.2GHz Athlon.  In reality, the only solution is to do both, together.

The Platforms
AMD’s new 760 DDR chip set first saw the light of day in January of 2000.  Since then, it has been the subject of an industry wide validation effort for DDR SDRAM and for its new front side bus speed.  The chip set is blessed with all of the performance features needed for a modern high-end desktop.  It is the foundation of a world-class platform.

Intel’s finest high bandwidth platform is generally agreed to be the OR840 motherboard.  Its only obvious feature set deficiency is lack of ATA100 support.  Other than that, these two platforms are well matched for a duel.  

When it comes to platform cost, we are aware that there will be motherboard and DRAM cost differences between these systems.  For now, we will leave this out of the comparison until the exact OEM cost and street price of 760 motherboards and DDR SDAM can be observed.

We used the following platform configurations for this project:

We used these platform configurations for this project

 

In principle, two separate comparisons should be kept in mind as one considers any Intel vs. AMD performance benchmarks.  It is necessary to scrutinize the platforms configured for equal cost, and also consider them configured for equal clock speeds.

Dollar and clock comparison of P3 and Athlon

 

The perspective from these two comparisons must be merged in order to reach a balanced conclusion.   In the future, the most pertinent or interesting reference configurations will change with time, but an approach such as this ensures that users will not be lured into a bad decision based on an overly simplistic ‘clock speed only’ analysis.

Next: Benchmark Results