Coppermine faster than Athlon?

NoWhere Man submitted: "This was mainly generated because after speaking with a few friends it seems that submitting the article about Intel releasing 700+Mhz chips may have given people the wrong impression. The truth is that there is no real proof that these new processors are faster then the Athlon. In fact, based on past information, it would seem that Athlon would most likely come out the victor in a benchmark test." So which is really faster: Coppermine or Athlon? Hit the link for more details.

"True, the Wired article does claim that analysts said "it allows Intel to again say that it has the fastest PC chips." But there is no real proof behind this claim.

Below is a list of processor specs of the two chips (provided from UGeek).

Mhz Athlon=700Mhz Coppermine=733Mhz Bus Speed Athlon=200 Coppermine=133 L1 Cache Athlon=128 Coppermine=32 L2 Cache Athlon=512K(off chip) Coppermine=256K(on chip) Microns Athlon=.25 Coppermine=.18 Trans Athlon=22 mil Coppermine=28 mil

From these specs, the Athlon possesses the superior archecture. The only reason Coppermine is able to achieve 733Mhz is the 0.18 micron process (the chip simply runs at a cooler temperature). Athlon has an excellent CPU core, a fast FPU, and a superb overclocking ability. Only problem is with the chipsets and motherboards or lack there of. Intel chips are widely supported and have a good overclocking ability, but the archetecture is becoming saturated and out of date. Also, Intel had alot of trouble with the i820/Camino chipset which had delayed its release and all motherboards with the old design have to be destroyed. So the question is, how do you think Coppermine will do? "

Comments

Athlon is still faster

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While the Coppermine does narrow the previously large gap between the Pentium III and Athlon, the K7 is still faster. I've read many different comparisons between the two -- and the Coppermine, clock for clock, is definitely showing its age with its Pentium-Pro core. The Athlon has LOTS of room to grow.

Be careful when reading benchmarks, some tests include SSE enhancements without 3dnow! support. Some 3D performance tests use high resolutions to put the bottleneck in the video card and not the cpu (thus decreasing differences). A good reliable source for benchmarks is Anandtech.