Two of the best manufacturers of CPU processors are Intel and AMD Athlon. These two companies have been raging war against each other ever since AMD Athlon beat Intel to releasing a 64bit processor. But despite this, AMD Athlon computers have not completely won the battle yet. The two companies have been trying to beat the competitor in terms of price, clock speed or performance, power consumption and heat production. There have been processor releases one after the other from these companies, making CPU processor shopping even more difficult. The good thing though with this war between Intel and AMD Athlon is that we are given an array of the best processors.
AMD Athlon computers have been around for a while now. They started with the release of the Athlon classic x86 processor way back when Intel’s Pentium 3 was the market leader. AMD Athlon’s first processor barely touched Intel’s market then. But in 2000, AMD Athlon dropped a bomb on Intel by releasing its Thunderbird processor. This time, AMD Athlon computers gained the market leader title over Intel’s Pentium 3. And ever since then, AMD Athlon has been competitively coming up with processors that seem to match, if not over perform Intel processors.
Let’s talk about speed!
If you are on the look out for a processor, you will probably check how AMD Athlon processors match with Intel’s in terms of price and performance. Over the years, AMD Athlon has continually tried to improve its clock speed and other features. Current AMD Athlon processors are the 64 x2 series and 64 fx series. The 64 x2 series offers a clock speed range from 2.3 GHz and 3.0 GHz while the 64 fx series offers a clock speed range from 2.6 GHz to 3.0 GHz. AMD Athlon may not always match or over perform every Intel processor but the latest processor did. The fx -74 processor out performs Intel’s Core 2 Extreme QX6700, with a 3.00 GHz clock speed compared to the latter’s slower 2.66GHz speed.
The Price Factor
Since AMD Athlon is the newer brand, it is only natural that they offer affordable prices. In fact, all their prices are lesser compared to Intel’s. The AMD Athlon 64 x2 series for instance is lower priced, between $170 and $500, compared to Intel Core 2 Duo series which are priced between $180 and $600. AMD Athlon processors are definitely more affordable, although the latest 64 fx – 74 is equally priced to its Intel counterpart.
Diversifying to Smaller Processors
AMD Athlon has also touched the market of notebook processors, with the Turion Series and the Mobile Athlon XP. To fit a notebook’s size, these types of processors are basically smaller, has lower heat production and power consumption.
Choosing the Right Processor
Although speed and price are important factors to consider when you buy processors, your PC usage should be the first determining factor. Why would you go for a high-speed processor when your PC usage won’t reach that speed? If your PC use is limited to word processing and internet surfing only, choosing from the list of AMD Athlon processors will have no difference. However, if you use your PC for high-speed computer games that requires faster clock-speed, you may want to check the top part of the AMD Athlon computers list.
Moreover, you may also want to consider buying cooling fans if you go with high-speed processors. Although AMD Athlon processors are manufactured to have lower heat production, cooling fans will help cool the processors more effectively especially if you plan to over-clock your CPU.
Amd Athlon Computers
AMD's 45nm Push
AMD recently announced that the company is shedding its manufacturing operation, transferring its manufacturing assets to a new company. This will allow AMD to focus on design and engineering.
By late 2008, the company will have begun shipping its first set of 45nm quad-core CPUs based on the Phenom architecture. Code-named Shanghai, the new CPU will offer 6MB of L3 cache (up from 2MB) and HyperTransport 3 support. However, Shanghai will still have an embedded DDR2 memory controller, meaning that it will trail Intel in overall memory bandwidth.
Beyond this year, the company is prepping a 6-core CPU dubbed Istanbul, which is slated for a late 2009 launch. It's unlikely that there will be substantial changes to the architecture. The next new architecture for AMD is Magny Cours, which will have up to 12 cores and finally incorporate a DDR3 memory controller. A 6-core version, code-named Sao Paulo, will arrive on the scene about the same time, in early 2010.
Intel, on the other hand, likes to brag about its "tick-tock" development cycle. The phrase refers to the way Intel designs and transitions new architectures. When Intel develops a manufacturing process—such as its current 45nm technology—it brings an existing architecture to the new process. So Penryn, Intel's first 45nm CPU, was an evolutionary improvement over the original Core 2. That's the "tick." The "tock" is when Intel designs and builds a new CPU architecture on the current manufacturing process. Hence all the Nehalem variants will be built using the existing 45nm process.
In 2009, Intel will start to bring up its next-generation 32nm process, enabling it to pack even more transistors onto the same die size or shrink the CPU considerably. The 32nm process should also reduce power consumption and, in theory, enable higher clock speeds. The first processor built on 32nm will be Westmere and will be based on Nehalem.
Westmere may incorporate up to six cores on a single die. Intel has also announced that six new instructions designed to accelerate AES encryption/decryption algorithms will be part of the instruction set.
The true next generation for Intel isn't likely to hit the street until later in 2009 and will also be built on 32nm. That CPU is code-named Sandy Bridge. There's not a lot known about Sandy Bridge yet, but Intel is planning on integrating Advanced Vector Extensions, a new set of extensions to SSE that may considerably enhance the CPU's floating-point performance
New AMD Quad-Cores Start Shipping Early
Among these the Phenom II X4 920 runs at 2.8GHz and is being retailed for between $271 and $317 USD while the Phenom II X4 940 which runs at 3GHz is being sold for anything between $304 and $373 USD, depending on the online store. They run on DDR2 platforms and will be moved to DDR3 platforms based on the AM3 sockets, later this year.
This move comes as a big surprise, because AMD has not yet introduced these processors. Their launch is earmarked for CES 09, which will be held in January '09.
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AMD at a Glance
CEO: Dirk Meyer
Revenue: $6.013 billion in 2007
NYSE ticker symbol: AMD
Year Company Started: 1969
Number of Employees: approximately 16,500
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California
Number of Office Locations: 80
