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AMD's Showcases Quad-Core Barcelona CPU
Gr8Apes writes "AMD has showcased their new 65nm Barcelona quad-core CPU. It is labeled a quad-core Opteron, but according to Infoworld's Tom Yeager, is really a redefinition of x86. Each core has a new vector math processing unit (SSE128), separate integer and floating point schedulers, and new nested paging tables (to vastly improve hardware virtualization). According to AMD, the new vector math units alone should improve floating point operation by 80%. Some analysts are skeptical, waiting for benchmarks. Will AMD dethrone Intel again? Only time will tell."
I will not surprised if AMD dethrones Intel again. It is a classical Intel vs. AMD battle...
Intel comes up with some hair-brained scheme that "More is better!". (like Viagra) They design something new and decide to make it faster (or in this case just glue more of them together). Back in the day it was the "GHz" now it's all about how many "Cores" you got. This tactic seems to suit Intel quite well and dethrones AMD for about a year and a half... During this time AMD massively redesigns there chips to integrate new, emerging technologies. The gamers and server operators of the world sit by their AMD chips knowing that they might not have the fastest chips for the time being but they are more technologically advanced.
Intel keeps cranking out their "Viagra" chips that become hotter and bigger energy hogs. When they finally come to the realization that their product SUCKS (as with the P4's) AMD is already a step ahead and swiftly takes the market back with their chips, that have always be a step ahead technologically. Intel scrambles, does a redesign, fails, tries again and history repeats. Intel's "Viagra" mentality causes their chips to be more expensive while AMD's "slow and steady wins the race" mentality allows them to keep their prices down.
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Get your facts first then distort them as you please -Mark Twain