Intel vs AMD
By Carrie Pipkin: Introduction and History Ramiro Bolanos : Intel and VIA chipsets Dan Hepp: VIA and AMD chipsets, Conclusion
11 Part 1: Comparative History
Generally Intel has been the dominant producer of microprocessor chips AMD has proven to be a fierce competitor Competition stimulated the industry by producing new and innovative microprocessors In the mid nineties Intel begins to face true competition 22 Comparative History ƛƛ8028680286 chip
1980ƞs1980ƞs--IntelIntel was the only true producer of marketable computer chips 19821982--introduceintroduce 80286 286 was able to run software of its prior microprocessor
33 Comparative History ƛƛ8028680286 chip
Within 6 years, 15 million 286ƞs are installed around the world
Intel contracts third party companies to produce 286ƞs and variants
AMD was one of these third party companies
AMD became very efficient and capable of being its own producer of microprocessors
44 Comparative History ƛƛ386386 chip
1985, Intel releases its 3232--bitbit 386 microprocessor. Faster and capable of multitasking AMD, under licensed production, produces 386 chips allowing Intel to meet market demands
55 Comparative History ƛƛ386386 chip
During the reign of the 386, AMD decides to produce its own CPU. 19871987--AMDAMD began legal arbitration over rights to produce their own chips. After 5 years of battle, the courts sided with AMD.
66 Comparative History --486486 chip
19891989--IntelIntel releases its 486DX. Allowed point and clicking Initially twice as fast as its predecessor. Intel continued to upgrade to speeds reaching 66MHz.
77 Comparative History --Am386Am386 chip
19911991--AMDAMD released Am386 Intelƞs 486 released two years prior AMD believed there still existed a market By October, AMD sold one million units
88 Comparative History --Am486Am486 chip
19931993--AMDAMD releases first competing chip: Am486 19941994--AMDAMD improves chip with Am486DX Am486DX processes up to 100MHz
99 Comparative History --PentiumPentium
1993, Intel realizes it cannot trademark numbers Ơx86.ơ This allows AMD the ability to essentially clone Intelƞs chips Intelƞs solution: dubs its new chip the Pentium instead of releasing it as the Ơ586ơ Comparative History --PentiumPentium Handles and processes more media types such as speech, sound , and photographic images.
It Offered multiple processing speeds up to 200MHz.
It became well entrenched in the market
During this time, Intel truly dominated Comparative History --Am5x86Am5x86
19951995--AMDƞsAMDƞs first attempt to compete with the Pentium by introducing Am5x86 It was reallyfor those who wanted to upgrade their 486 motherboards without making a jump to the Pentium motherboard AMD did not fare well with this chip Comparative History --AMDAMD K5 19961996--K5K5 introduced
First chip comparable to the Pentium
Could be placed in the same motherboard as the Pentium, making it compatible
Because it was released 3 years after the Pentium, it was met with cool reception Comparative History --PentiumPentium Pro
In the previous year, Intel released the Pentium Pro Able to handle more instructions per clock cycle Intelƞs ability to get a new chip on the market before AMD has had the effect of overshadowing any of AMDƞs microprocessors Comparative History --AMDAMD K6
19961996--AMDAMD purchases the company NexGen who were making a microprocessor of their own AMD uses their core 686 processor to develop the AMD K6 Additionally, they slap on Intelƞs MMX code making it compatible with Pentiums. Comparative History --AMDAMD K6
K6 was released in 1997 and reached speeds of 166Mhz to 200Mhz
K6 was significantly cheaper than the Pentium
K6 was able to move up to speeds as high as 300MHz, out performing the Pentiums
Intel was ready for the challenge Comparative History --PentiumPentium II
Later than year, Intel unveils the Pentium II
It was equipped with MMX instructions, ready to handle video, audio, and graphics data
Better capable of handling video editing, sending media via the Internet, and reprocessing music
By 1998, the Pentium began to climb in processing speeds up to 450 MHz. Comparative History --TheThe Celeron
K6 was doing well as a cost effective alternative to the Pentium II, although it was an inferior chip In response, in 1998, Intel introduced its own cheaper and inferiror microprocessor: the Celeron It was a stripped down version of the Pentium II Comparative History --AMDƞsAMDƞs K6--22K6
AMD fights back with an enhanced K6 to take on the Pentium II: the K6K6--22
Their K6 chip included what they called Ơ3DNowơ technology
3DNow is an additional twentytwenty--twotwo instructions to better handle audio, video, and graphic intensive programs
AMD then releases K6K6--33 and proves to be a threat toto Intel Comparative History --PentiumPentium III
19991999--IntelIntel responds by coming out with the Pentium III It had an additional 70 instructions, improving its ability to process advanced imaging, streaming audio, video, & speech recognition programs One goal of the Pentium III was to enhance the Internet experience Comparative History --thethe Athlon
The Athlon was a new chip from the ground up It was capable of doing everything the Pentium III could do, but was much cheaper The Athlon was beating out the Pentium III Comparative History --CeleronCeleron II In 2000, Intel decides to launch a two pronged attack against AMD
First, Intel fights for lowlow--endend market by introducing the Celeron II
It ranges in speed between 500 and 1100MHz.
It was a stripped down processor with enhanced speed
It was fairly cheap, making it competitive Comparative History --PentiumPentium IV
Intel also introduces the Pentium IV
It uses four main new technologies: Hyper Pipelined Technology, Rapid Execution Engine, Execution Trace Cache and a 400 MHz system bus
Its major improvement was increased speed, initially starting at 1.5Ghz with ability for expansion
Today itƞs reaching upwards to a remarkable 3GHz Comparative History --PentiumPentium IV
The Pentium IV can now produce high quality video stream radio and TV quality information across the internet Render upscale graphics in realreal--timetime Perform several applications simultaneously while connected to the Internet Comparative History --thethe Duron
As result of Intelƞs attack on AMD, Intel is once again dominating the market AMDƞs response to the Celeron II was the Duron, released the same year (2000) It is a geared down version of the Athlon, but edges out the Celeron Comparative History --AthlonAthlon XP The Athlon chip was destroying the Pentium III, but now is destined for the graveyard
In response to the Pentium IV, AMD enhanced the Athlon by coming out with the XP series.
Test show that an Athlon XP running 1.4GHz performs nearly as well as a Pentium of 2Ghz
The Athlon XP is a quality chip, but is fading away under the onslaught of the heavy performance of the Pentium IV Comparative History --thethe ClawHammer
Intel now holds edge over AMD in chip technology Rumored that AMD is developing a powerhouse chip called the ClawHammer It is apparently in a testing stage Chipsets
Our goal has been to understand the history and details of the competition and their processors between Intel and Amd Also of importance are Chipsets Knowing some information on chipsets helps determine an appropriate opinion on Intel & AMD Chipsets
A chipset is a group of integrated circuits, sold as one unit, designed to perform one or more related functions We are focused on chipsets that provide functionality for the CPU We compared chipsets from both AMD and Intel as well as an outside manufacturer, who makes chipsets for both, VIA. Chipset
Most advanced chipset for the AMD CPU Consists of the VT8235 Southbridge and the VT8377 Northbridge.
Main Features of KT400
Front Side Bus (FSB) up to 333Mhz Support for PC 3200 DDR Ram memory @ 400 Mhz NorthNorth--SouthSouth Bridge Link @ 533 Mhz 5 available PCI slots KT400 VT8377 Features
Lightening fast memory access: 2.7 Gb/s AGP @ 8X offers 2.1 Gb/s dedicated speed to 3D graphics Fast 333 Mhz FSB KT400 VT8235 Features
533 Mhz 8X VV--linklink interface between North and South bridge USB 2.0 ATA133 6 Channel Audio Few Popular Motherboards using the KT400
Gigabyte 7VAXP Abit AT7 MAX2 ASUS A7V8X MSI KT4 Ultra Soyo KT400 Ultra Dragon Performance Measurements AMD (using KT400) vs. Pentium
Using Soyoƞs KT400 Ultra Dragon Motherboard Higher number better Higher number better Higher number better AMD 760 MPX Chipset (Dual Processor)
Consists of the AMDAMD--762762 system controller (northbridge) and the AMDAMD--768768 peripheral bus controller (southbridge).
Main features of AMD 760MPX
Front Side Bus (FSB) up to 266 Mhz per processor (533Mhz) Support for PC 2100 DDR Ram memory @ 266 Mhz NorthNorth--SouthSouth Bridge Link @ 66 Mhz Up to 7 available PCI slots Features of AMD 760MPX 762 System Controller
Two 266 MHz pointpoint--toto--pointpoint AMD system buses PC 2100 DDR Ram memory @ 266 Mhz AGP 4X video card support Features of AMD 760MPX 768 Peripheral Bus Controller
Host PCI bus utilizing a 66MHz/6466MHz/64--bitbit interface. Secondary 33MHz/3233MHz/32--bitbit PCI bus interface, including PCI bus arbiter with support for up to eight external devices UDMA 33/66/100 compatible EIDE bus master controller SMBus controller with one SMBus port
Advantages of the AIPC and the SMBus Bus
Through the AIPC bus, the Processors have direct access to the south bridge Through the SMBus, the memory has the direct access to the south bridge Disadvantage of direct access can be potential data conflict The 860 Chipset Structure
Designed for Xeon Processor
2 Main Chips
MCH Memory Controller Hub Controls the high speed bus
ICH2 I/O controller Hub Controls the peripheral devices Over view of 860 chipset High Speed Bus
Memory
64 Bit PCI connection
Graphics Accelerators Memory Configuration
RDRAM Up to 64 devices supported by the Paired mode Single ChannelChannel--pairpair Mode Utilizes memory modules ( 4 Gigabytes) Multiple ChannelChannel--pairpair mode Utilizes MRHMRH--RR to control the expanded capabilities ( 16 Gigabytes of RAM) Block Diagram 64 bit PCI Support
400 MHz connection to the P64H chip Allows for a fast connection to a high speed, PCI device
High data transfer rate
High Speed
A pair are bundled in the chipset Graphics Accelerator
MCH connects to AGP 4X
Connection speed of 1 GB/s
High performance Accelerators supported
Does not Support 8X Accelerators ICH2 Peripherals Bus
32 Bit PCI Bus LAN Controller I/O module Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy disk drive, etc ATA / 100 (IDE standard for Hard Drive) 4 USB Ports Features and Benefits Feature Benefit
Supports two Intel Xeon Processors with NetBurst Microarchitecture and hyper-Threading teconlogy 512 KB L2 chacke for dual-processing server platforms
400 MHz System Bus Capability Balances the system bus band withd with the memory
Intel Hub Architecture with option P64H Dual 64-bit 66 MHz I/O segments for fast drive access and high speed networks
AGP 4X 1 GB/s of Graphics bandwidth allows high performance Graphics
MRH-R (RDRAM Based repeater Hub) Extends RDRAM memory capacities and increases System scalability Dual RDRAM channels Maximum memory performance(3.2 GB/s or 400MHz)
Prefetch Cache System concurrency so that simultaneous process do not impact system performance
Dual USB Controllers Enhanced plug and play with four full band width USB ports
Note source (Intel 860 Chipset) Overview 860 chipset
Highly Structured
Powered by up to 7 chips
High performance
Apollo Chipset
Designed for the Pentium 4 processor
3 Segments in the Bus
North Bridge High speed bus
South Bridge peripheral devices Block Diagram North Bridge
System Bus 400 MHz
Main memory Connection at 266 MHz
Bottleneck
Accelerated Graphics Controller AGP 4X AGP support South Bridge
Controls 32 bit PCI Bus (33 MHz)
Supports up to 6 USB devices (2.0 Standard) Hard Drive IDE (ATA 33 / 66 / 100 )
LAN controller VT6103 South Bridge (contƞd)
Several chips available VT8233 VT8233C VT8233A
Each with a unique function
Price drops Features Supports Intel Pentium 4 Processor
400MHz (Quad 100) FSB setting
AGP4X graphics
Supports DDR200/266 SDRAM as well as PC100/133 SDRAM
Ultra fast 266MB per second VV--LinkLink between North and South Bridge Features (contƞd) AC'97 and MC'97 Audio/Modem
Integrated 3Com 10/100Mb Ethernet Media Access Controller Support for 2 ATA 33/66/100 interfaces
6 USB ports, UHCI compliant
Advanced power management capabilities
Note Source: (Via P4X266) Overview
Highly structured
Unique features LAN, sound, modem integrated
4 GB of Ram
Promises to utilize Intelƞs Quad bus pumping technology
Price conscientious Professional Opinion
After serious consideration to: Chip performance Reliability Some research $50 from Intelƞs PR
We conclude that the
860 chipset is the best chipset within this Presentation Thank You