The Best Analogy to Explaining the Clock Speed/Performance Myth to Joe Average

[AGodspeed]

I'm doing a paper for my English class where I have to portray clearly and concisely how microprocessors differ from each other, in this case, performance.

So basically, what I need are some examples of how I can portray to my Joe Average English teacher that a 1.6GHz Athlon XP gives a 2GHz Pentium 4 a run for it's money, even though the Pentium 4 has more MHz.

I know this is a tired topic, but just bare with me if you will.

I was thinking along the lines of the car analogy, where the P4 has higher RPM, but the cylinder is smaller then the lower RPM but bigger cylinder AXP or something like that.

Extra points for the most creative analogies.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ikar0s]

MHz=Displacement
Performance=Horsepower

Think of Intel as a small block Chevy engine. Lots of displacement, a fair amount of power.
Think of AMD as a Honda racing engine. Smaller displacment, but the same amount of power.

 

[Pederv]

IPC = Lanes on a hiway
MHz = speed of the cars
Intel = 6 lane hiway
AMD = 9 lane hiway
To get the same number of cars past a given point, the cars on the Intel hiway need to ravel faster.

- OR -

IPC = cylinders in the engine
MHz = RPM
Intel = 4 Cylinder Engine (6 * 2/3)
AMD = 6 Cylinder Engine (9 * 2/3)
To provide the same power to the transmision the 4 Cylinder engine needs a higher RPM.

 

[Macro2]

 

[Macro2]

Mhz=RPM
Performance=speed

P4---revs high---can't get out of 3rd gear...
P4 on SDRAM is like a gas engine trying to run on bad gas...
Mac

 

[So]

Well, If you don't want to go with a car analogy, you can go with someting real simple, like two guys hauling bricks. One guy can make a trip faster, but he carries less bricks each trip; Another guy carries more bricks per trip, but makes a longer trip. The guy who makes more trips has a better looking resume (i.e. Mhz) whereas the guy who makes less trips is a better worker, but he might not get hired because of an uneducated employer. I know it's not a car analogy, and I don't know if there is enough material to make an entire essay out of, but maybe it will help in some way.

Good luck

 

[Fike]

I think that the lanes on a highway is the best because it illustrates the fact that the performance is about moving data from place to place (memory, drives, pci bus etc....). You can also use the analogy about how certain parts of the system become bottlenecks where the lanes merge down (like the old 16 mhz isa bus or the ata 33 hard drives) or where there are slower components (RAM) where the speed of one lane slows down and results in a slow down of the entire process.



<< IPC = Lanes on a hiway
MHz = speed of the cars
Intel = 6 lane hiway
AMD = 9 lane hiway
To get the same number of cars past a given point, the cars on the Intel hiway need to ravel faster. >>



I'd definitely go with the highway.

 

[TheCorm]

These are really good Analogies!, I like this one because it emphasises the fact that AMD are not as well acclaimed despite making very good processors:



<< Well, If you don't want to go with a car analogy, you can go with someting real simple, like two guys hauling bricks. One guy can make a trip faster, but he carries less bricks each trip; Another guy carries more bricks per trip, but makes a longer trip. The guy who makes more trips has a better looking resume (i.e. Mhz) whereas the guy who makes less trips is a better worker, but he might not get hired because of an uneducated employer. I know it's not a car analogy, and I don't know if there is enough material to make an entire essay out of, but maybe it will help in some way. >>



Corm

 

[Yihaa]

Another 'car' analogy is 0-60mph or quarter mile times. It doesn't matter if the engine has 2000 horsepower if the gear ratios are too high or if there is no traction because of skinny tires. A 1530 horsepower car can still outrun it because is has all-wheel drive, traction control, racing slicks and properly matched gearing.

 

[PlatinumGold]

You could use a plumbing analogy.

MHZ = PSI (pounds per square inch)

IPC = Size of piping.

no matter how much you increase PSI a given pipe or tube size will only allow so much volume.

in effect intel decrease tube size in order to increase PSI when going from PIII to PIV.

 

[Adul]

I used this one time to explain to a few friends of mine.

They both have the same start points and destinations. But the intel takes the longer route will AMD takes a more direct approach. In order for intel to make it the same time has AMD, Intel needs to travel at a faster speed.

 

[Bovinicus]

It looks to me like the one you came up with orignially is just fine.

 

[virge147]

<< I used this one time to explain to a few friends of mine.

They both have the same start points and destinations. But the intel takes the longer route will AMD takes a more direct approach. In order for intel to make it the same time has AMD, Intel needs to travel at a faster speed. >>



I think thats the most clear cut explanation so far
Nice adul

 

[Texmaster]

Assuming this is a real study, I have a hard time swallowing its premise because the mhz factor is not in effect PIII vs T-Bird which are both still selling as we speak.

If its a more specified arguement say P4 vs Palimino now that I can see but I had to pause when I saw the title because it simply is not the case on a overall scale. To us its central now but not for most people and certainly not for all processors.

Many of the arguements here are bent on showing one better than the other when the analysis should be simple an analysis not an arguement.

My analysis would focus on moving vans. The Intel van makes a longer trip than the AMD van so the Intel van must use a faster van to get the same amount of cargo to the destination than the AMD van.

Neither is better at delivering the goods than the other, they just take different paths to get there.

 

[StormRider]

Think of an Athlon as a girl with longer legs. Since the Athlon has longer legs, it doesn't have to move its legs as fast (clock speed) as the shorter leg Pentium IV to achieve the same speed.

Or think of it as penis size. The longer sized Athlon doesn't have to pump as fast to have the girl achieve orgasm as the smaller sized Pentium IV.

BTW, you don't have to give me credit on your paper if you decide to use my examples...

 

[PlatinumGold]

stormrider.

lol.

very good.

 

[dullard]

Here is the best I've ever come up with:

Watch a mother (or father) walk with a small child. The child moves its feet at a stunningly high frequency, the parent walks at a slow frequency. Yet they both travel at the same speed. The reason is since the toddler does very little work with each step, while the parent does a lot of work with each step.

This is a good analogy to use since everyone has seen this occur, while some people will know nothing about cars or plumbing.