Intel Vs Amd

[erection day]

Just a question that has been on my head for a while. Is there a difference between a system which runs on Intel vs one with AMD? I notice that the price for a AMD machine is always much cheaper than an Intel one- why is that?

[oralb]

you are talking about 2 different type of processor made by 2 different companies.

as for why AMD is cheaper, coz intel is more well known, you are paying for the brand.

but is intel better? read this

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-1.html

[IkuTube]

When we put two PC enthusiasts together to discuss about CPU, there will always be a constant 'war' of ideas. As an analogy, one feels that an apple is better that it keeps the doctor away, while another feels that the orange gives more vitamin.

Intel and AMD have come a long way providing good competition that benefits the consumers. PC enthusiasts realized these benefits - each cpu provides different benchmark for different tasks. When AMD launched her Athlon x2 core, it was touted to perform much better than Intel Pentium D. If you are to follow OralB's link, it will give you a better picture. AMD also resolved heat issues.

Intel had no choice but to lower prices and worked harder into research and innovation. Subsequently, Intel launched the Core2Duo and it is now staying ahead of the competition.

This competition is ongoing. AMD is said to counter Core2Duo. As it is, the prices of Core2Duo are expected to drop, and it is sooner than expected.

Tomshardware.com is one of the most reputable site monitoring such development. Here you can test for CPU chart that will provide a true performance comparison between AMD and Intel processors. Highly recommended for those who want to find the performance for your dollar.

[IkuTube]

It is rumoured that Intel and AMD are cutting prices on April 22 and 9 respectively. Plus, prices for memory will slide a bit over the next few months.

For further reading - Intel Vs AMD, This is a good article.

Memory prices plummeting - Article here

Looks like it is a good time for those planning to upgrade your system.

[IkuTube]

AMD Posts $611 Million Net Loss in Q1 2007

Q1 2007 performance is "disappointing and unacceptable" says AMD's chief financial officer

Ten days ago, AMD announced that it was planning to restructure its business due to a significant drop in quarterly revenue. At the time, the company was projecting its Q1 revenue to come in at $1.225 billion USD.

The official numbers are in and AMD has reported Q1 revenue of $1.233 billion USD and an net loss of $611 million USD. The numbers include a charge of $113 million USD due to the acquisition of ATI and $28 million USD for employee stock-based compensation expenses. AMD had revenue of $1.773 billion USD in Q4 2006.

The ongoing price war between AMD and Intel is partially to blame for the reduced earnings. Intel has been aggressively cutting prices on its current processors and AMD has been quick to respond. AMD as a result has witnessed lower average selling prices (ASPs) in addition to lower unit sales.

"After more than three years of successfully executing our customer expansion strategy and significantly growing our unit and revenue base, our first quarter performance is disappointing and unacceptable," said AMD CFO Robert J. Rivet. "We are aggressively addressing the issues that led to our significant revenue decline. We are aligning our business model, capital expenditures and cost structure with the goal of accelerating our return to profitability. Lastly, our customer relationships remain solid, reflecting their confidence in our strategic direction, current and new products, and technology roadmaps."

On a positive note, AMD reported $197 million USD in revenue from its graphics division in Q1 2007. This represented a 19 percent gain from Q4 2006. AMD's next generation DirectX 10-based R600 graphics processor is expected to launch within the next few weeks. The top of the line AMD ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT will feature 320 stream processors, 512-bit memory interface with eight channels, native CrossFire support, 128-bit HDR rendering, 24x anti-aliasing and HDMI output with 5.1 surround sound.

Looking to the near future, AMD plans to get its 65nm native quad-core Barcelona processors out the door during Q3. AMD has high hopes for the processors which will incorporate 2MB of L3 cache and AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology. "We expect across a wide variety of workloads for Barcelona to outperform Clovertown by 40 percent," said AMD's corporate vice president for server and workstation products, Randy Allen in January.

The company will not, however, begin production of 45nm processors until the first half of 2008. 45nm processors won’t actually ship until the second half of 2008.

Intel is well aware of AMD's plans and many have suggested that the company released early performance numbers for its quad-core Penryn processors to divert attention away from AMD's upcoming Barcelona. Intel's 45nm Penryn taped-out in January and will begin shipping in the latter half of 2007 -- roughly a year ahead of AMD's first 45nm processor.

Source: DailyTech - 19.04.2007

[IkuTube]

Intel is set to cut prices for its Core 2 dual and quad-core products next week, online retailers have already taken the plunge. The chip giant also launched the Core 2 Duo E6320 and E6420, now with 4MB of L2 cache. Intel prices the new E6x20 models the same as the E6x00 models. Under the new pricing structure, Intel offers its Core 2 processors starting at $113 per unit, in 1,000 unit quantities.

Further read here

[IkuTube]

Intel Wipes Out AMD's 2006 Marketshare Gains In One Quarter

Intel picks up 6% during one quarter in the overall PC market

The price war that is waging between Intel and AMD paid off handsomely for Intel in the first quarter according to the latest numbers from Mercury Research. Intel managed to capture 80.5 percent of the PC processor market for Q1 2007.

The strong performance by Intel in Q1 represents a whopping 6 percentage point increase from the 74.4 percent share that the company held during Q4 2006. The increases per segment come in at 8 percent for the desktop market, 4 percent for the notebook market and 7 percent for the server market.

Last year, AMD was quick to point out its strong growth in all computing segments. For the third quarter, AMD's share of the desktop, notebook and server markets stood at 26.5 percent, 18.3 percent and 24.4 percent respectively. The company's overall marketshare for Q3 2006 came in at 23.3%. For Q4 2006, that share rose to 25.3 percent.

Intel erased all of AMD's 2006 gains and pushed the company back under the 20 percent threshold. Analysts for JP Morgan reported that "Intel's superior products and aggressive pricing took their toll on AMD. We expect AMD to lose additional share during (the second quarter)."

AMD has responded to the best of its ability to Intel's strong Core 2-based product family and the company's steady stream of price cuts. By going toe-to-toe with Intel, however, AMD has seen its average selling prices (ASPs) fall along with unit sales.

The company also made a critical error by oversupplying OEMs with processors when they couldn't deliver on sales forecasts while at the same time leaving channel partners out to dry with processor supply. "We made a strategic risk on how we shifted our capacity to serve our customers and unfortunately some of our customers were not able to meet those very aggressive growth areas that they had so when we shifted that, we were not able to recover as fast this quarter as we would have liked," said AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in early March.

The increased pricing pressure along with disappointing sales from OEM coupled with the strong performance of dual-core and quad-core processors from Intel has taken its toll on AMD. The company posted a $611 million USD net loss in Q1 2007 and announced that it would restructure its business to cut costs.

Source: DailyTech 24 Apr 2007