What are the real differences between Intel and AMD chips?

[Lexington_Steele]

What is the real difference between these chips. I assume it has to do with their different aproaches to pipelining problems. (for all I know they use the exaxt same pipelining architecture)

Is there a site that explains the differences (like differences in # of ticks to complete a command, speed of each tick, hazards that the chips are prone to and such) and what those differences mean to performance in different environments.

[Cyanide]

The pipelines are very different in Intel and AMD chips. AMD has a 7 segment pipeline which allows for more efficient processing in unpredictable applications like business apps. AMD chips consistantly outperform Intel chips on most business related apps like Office, CAD, etc. Intel chips have a 20 segment pipe which allows them to do well on predictable multimedia apps like DVD players and games.

The other major difference is the price in the mid to lower end of the chip speeds. The fastest AMD chip is about the same price as the fastest Intel chip and they both perform similarly. However, as you go down the ladder for each brand AMD becomes less expensive. Saving $50 on your processor by getting an AMD and putting that $50 into more ram or a better video card will get you a faster computer overall.

[Hunter83]

Well,

AMD=Efficiant
Intel=Clockspeed only
AMD=Runs hot
Intel= Runs cool
Amd= Works its ass off
Intel= We just wanna look good by having a high clock speed and doing nothing with it

I haven't read this article in a couple weeks but it tells all about Intel and AMD: http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030217/index.html

[Zatrais]

Real difference, summed up:

AMDs run at slower cloclspeeds but do more calculations pr cycle.

P4's run fewer calculations pr cycle but runs at faster speeds.

Course HT will change things abit when it becomes the norm.

[Cyanide]

All processor do the same ammount of calculations (or operations) per cycle, and that amount is 1. The definition of a hert is one operation per second. Therfore if you have an AMD chip that is 900mhz it's doing 900 million operations per second. An intel chip at 900mhz also by defenition does 900 million operations per second. The difference is how efficiently the processor uses these cycles.

Also, hyperthreading is pretty much useless. All it does is allow slightly better multi-tasking. Most programs are not designed to use and most will not be for atleast a couple years.

The biggest change that is coming is AMDs Opteron 64/32bit processor. It has hardware support for both 64bit and 32bit applications. Intel however is apperently not realeasing a comsumer 64bit chip untill 2007 and when they do it will not have hardware support for 32bit apps. Instead it will use software emulation, which is ALWAYS worse.

[powdahound]

I'm an AMD guy myself...

One thing I'd like to add is that while AMDs do run hotter, they are MEANT TO, and are have a higher operating temperature bracket. You do not need any more fans for AMD chips than intel chips because they are meant to be hotter. Don't need to get it down to super low temps. :)

I'm definitely looking forward to AMD op's too. :)