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New AMD Athlon 2600 Processor Released
Ertai writes "Looks like the latest AMD processor is out today, and is taking it right to Intel! Running at 2.13 GHz, the Athlon XP 2600+ is reviewed at Amdmb.com. The benchmarks show that the new Athlon on a 'revision B' Thoroughbred core with the frequency increase is able to beat out the Pentium 4 2.53 GHz processor on almost every test. Not only that, but it is a good overclocker as well! Check it out." AMD's press release on the topic also notes a Athlon 2400 was released as well.
'I will answer you from the mouth of my canon' - Le Marquis de Montecalm to General James Wolfe
Intel releases their 2.8ghz chip next week. The speed battle trundles on.
Of course, it's getting boring now; Intel has mostly reclaimed the performance crown from the usurper AMD, and the Athlon core is showing its age, and AMD is facing new problems with clockspeed. The previous Thoroughbred core had problems increasing clock speed due to signal propagation issues and AMD had to add another metal layer to optimise the wiring layout. Think about it, at 2 billion clock cycles every second, there isn't a lot of time for a signal to get from one side of the CPU to the other, and unlike NetBurst(the P4 core) the Athlon core really isn't designed to take signal propagation issues into account - hence why Intel is rapidly scaling up the clock speed while AMD is struggling (I calculate the P4 can probably hit at least 7-8ghz before signal propagation becomes a problem again). AMD has managed to stretch out the life of the Athlon core, but I'm not sure what they're going to do next; signal propagation speed isn't easy to solve without a complete redesign of the core. Although the TB can hit 2.4ghz, beyond that I can't see the processor continuing to increase in speed. For AMD's sake, I hope that lasts them until they can get Hammer based chips on the market.
Still, it doesn't keep me up at night. Intel is ramping up clock speed as regularly as clockwork, AMD is keeping up (for now). Wake me up when something interesting happens.
Actually, I am looking forward to the 3ghz since I've heard, well, rumours that Intel is enabling SMT on it. Finally, an innovation! Seriously though, SMT is pretty cool, it gives the processor the ability to run two threads at once. The main thread is slightly slower than it would be if the chip didn't do SMT (a couple of percentage points), but the CPU can use its unused resources to run a second thread at about 15-20% of full speed.
So look back in December/January. Intel's releasing SMT chip, and AMD might be releasing Hammers. Until then the Intel vs. AMD battle will continue to be boring!
AMD Saxony Operations Unaffected by Dresden Flooding
DRESDEN, GERMANY -- August 15, 2002 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) said today that its AMD Saxony operations located in Dresden, Germany - including production at the facility's Fab 30 plant - continue to operate normally despite severe flooding across Germany's Saxony region.
"Although much of the larger Dresden area is being affected by unprecedented floods, our production is running according to plan and employee morale remains high," said Hans Deppe, vice president and general manager of AMD Saxony. "Because of the preventive controls built-in to our facility and the exemplary dedication of our workforce, we expect to continue to operate normally despite the conditions."
AMD Saxony has its own on-site power plant, and remains accessible via the Dresden airport and federal highways. AMD Saxony's operations, including Fab 30, are located high up on the rim of the river valley and have not been directly affected by the flooding in other parts of Dresden and surrounding areas. The company does not expect that operations will be impacted even if the local flood situation worsens.
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Reading the tomshardware review, I don't see this as a big advantage for AMD.
- The p4 2.5 GHz beat the Athlon XP 2600 in over half of the tests
- The fastest P4 is cheaper than the new Athlon 2600 (???- when is the last time we saw that?), and that is before Intel's price cuts they announced for later this month
- The new AMD 2600 won't be available to customers for another month or so
- Intel is releasing the 2.8 GHz P4 next week
"The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
I could see holding back on multiproc systems when the big manufacturers were preloading Win98/ME, but doesn't Win2kPro and WinXP support multiproc systems? I, for one, will likely make my next PC a multiproc machine.