Why has Intel already been declared the new Performance King?

[AthlonAlien]

I have purchased both Intel and AMD products, and I'm not bias towards either company.

In reference to the Conroe chips...

We all know AMD is the current performance leader... and AM2 is the next thing coming out. So if anything, AMD will pull ahead a little more. I understand that Conroe will be Intel's next big thing and that it's performance numbers are looking good so far, however, the chips are still about 6 months away. The PC industry can change so much in 6 months time... I just believe some people are getting a little crazy and are possibly jumping the gun a bit on this 'Intel will dominate AMD' thing...?!

-LaTeR

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Says the guy with Athlon in his handle

Now, keep it one of the 50 threads on Conroe already going please :light:

 

[Compellor]

They may be "a little crazy," but in the end they are right. A lot of the excitement is just from years of AMD dominance. Intel gets back the performance crown with Conroe.

For Intel fans all I can say is enjoy it while it lasts. My next upgrade will be a Conroe-based system. I'm happy to see that Intel will be back on top.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Intel will have a performance lead when conroe hits the market. So while declaring that to be true now is 'jumping the gun' it's pretty much a done deal already.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
Intel will have a performance lead when conroe hits the market. So while declaring that to be true now is 'jumping the gun' it's pretty much a done deal already.

Actually you are speculating that Intel will have the performance lead when Conroe comes out. Since AMD and Intel haven't actually released their chips that will be out in six months when can only look at roadmaps and guess. Conroe looks great on paper and when I build a system in late fall to replace this one if Conroe is superior in performance than I will go with it, but until the Conroe is actually out and compared in retail to AMD's AM2 stuff we will see.

 

[SoCalBoomer]

I don't post here often (I run and post regularly on plenty of other boards. . .I just lurk here! :lol: ) but I have to say that Anand's latest "benchmark" article was the first that I've been disappointed with.

Using an Intel blackbox and an Intel provided AMD blackbox to provide benchmarks with no disclaimer?

Listen - I EXPECT Intel to re-take the crown. You can't have a 3000lb gorilla just sit there. . .it's GOING to come back and raise a ruckus.

But Anandtech has been built on objective and independent benchmarking and articles. This is the site to which I send people for objective, solid, unquestionable information. If Anandtech says it, it's gotta be straight.

If Anand had said that they'd been provided the box, used their own Athlon box, did their own installs, etc. - that would be one thing and would only need a small grain of salt (not retail box. . .still disclaimer) but this was NOT that. This was entirely Intel provided boxen, with Intel installed OS, Drivers, apps, etc.

Let's look at this in another light - Microsoft vs. Linux. If this had been provided by MS, people would be all OVER it. . .

I guess I just expect more from Anand. sigh

 

[AdamK47]

Viditor... LO friggen L

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: SoCalBoomer
I don't post here often (I run and post regularly on plenty of other boards. . .I just lurk here! :lol: ) but I have to say that Anand's latest "benchmark" article was the first that I've been disappointed with.

Using an Intel blackbox and an Intel provided AMD blackbox to provide benchmarks with no disclaimer?

Listen - I EXPECT Intel to re-take the crown. You can't have a 3000lb gorilla just sit there. . .it's GOING to come back and raise a ruckus.

But Anandtech has been built on objective and independent benchmarking and articles. This is the site to which I send people for objective, solid, unquestionable information. If Anandtech says it, it's gotta be straight.

If Anand had said that they'd been provided the box, used their own Athlon box, did their own installs, etc. - that would be one thing and would only need a small grain of salt (not retail box. . .still disclaimer) but this was NOT that. This was entirely Intel provided boxen, with Intel installed OS, Drivers, apps, etc.

Let's look at this in another light - Microsoft vs. Linux. If this had been provided by MS, people would be all OVER it. . .

I guess I just expect more from Anand. sigh

then why did the AMD scores tally with the existing AT benchmarks? :roll:

 

[n7]

You whiners really piss me off.

Anand did state that the benches were run on an Intel setup machine. The discalimer is there, if you would actually read :roll:
It's entirely possible that the performance of the Intel testbest was "enhanced" in some way, perhaps via the ATi drivers or bios, & the the AMD machine's "lowered".

However, it doesn't seem they could do all that much.

We already know that AM2 isn't likely to provide much of a performance improvement unless AMD's hiding something about the new architechture, & so far, the only thing AMD has hidden is the benches on the new AM2 systems, since apparently they are doing worse due to some kinks they're working out with DDR2.

I agree that the actual difference will likely be smaller when the two platforms are actually out & competing with each other, but unless AMD pulls off some kind of miracle, Conroe is quite clearly going to be the new performance champ.

The sad thing is that you fanbois can't see how great this is for everyone.
This will force AMD to improve their tech to attempt to catch up, or lower prices to compete that way.

Either way, this is a win win situation for consumers

I, for one, am quite excited to see how it all turns out.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Intel is going to be the king in September, but until then AMD is still reigning.

 

[Stoneburner]

Just read Anand's blog about AM2. AMD looks like it's about to become irrelevant for a year.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
Intel will have a performance lead when conroe hits the market. So while declaring that to be true now is 'jumping the gun' it's pretty much a done deal already.

Actually you are speculating that Intel will have the performance lead when Conroe comes out. Since AMD and Intel haven't actually released their chips that will be out in six months when can only look at roadmaps and guess. Conroe looks great on paper and when I build a system in late fall to replace this one if Conroe is superior in performance than I will go with it, but until the Conroe is actually out and compared in retail to AMD's AM2 stuff we will see.

We already know there will be no huge performance benefit to AM2; look at people running OC'd systems with ram at less than ddr400; ram performance is simply not the bottleneck for A64.

Unless AMD is going to magically find about 500mhz of clock speed on their current architecture, Conroe is going to be the performance leader when it hits the market.

This is not going to make AMD 'irrelevant' as one poster suggests, but it is going to hurt, as AMD has enjoyed the luxury of being able to set prices for their products as a performance leader for some time; they may be forced right back to the midlate AXP days when Conroe hits; good for users like me who do not buy leading edge technology anyway, and don't really care what the best thing out there is, just the best thing that fits what I'm willing to spend on a toy, bad for AMD though.

 

[deeznuts]

Originally posted by: SoCalBoomer
I don't post here often (I run and post regularly on plenty of other boards. . .I just lurk here! :lol: ) but I have to say that Anand's latest "benchmark" article was the first that I've been disappointed with.

Using an Intel blackbox and an Intel provided AMD blackbox to provide benchmarks with no disclaimer?

Um, did you read the article? You need to go lurk over at www.anandtech.com and read the article, and not go off what you read in the forums.

"Intel setup two identical systems"
"We won't say it's impossible as anything can happen, but we couldn't find anything suspicious about the setups."

What more do you want anand to say, "don't believe these results, actually, you know what, don't even read this article since we didn't set these machines up"

 

[Jules]

I wouldnt worry about it. intel has 6 months to take the crown. Amd is winning now.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
I wouldnt worry about it. intel has 6 months to take the crown. Amd is winning now.

You would think that wouldn't cha. BUT, a lot of people who were thinking of upgrading to and AMD system from an Intel system, or even current Athlon 64 owners are putting on the brakes for their upgrades in light of all of this information. So, I think "winning" might not be the best description of AMD's current status. They still have the best desktop/server performance currently. This could be why Intel predicted a "drop" in computer spending for the first half of 06. They may have predicted that a lot of people would not buy anything (Intel or AMD) in anticipation of Conroe's release after the IDF news got out.
Just my thoughts.

EDIT: Did they say that Conroe was due out in 2H '06? This could mean as early as July 1st if I'm not mistaken. Or as late as Dec 31st for that matter. LOL.

 

[her34]

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=1818&p=1

here's article for preview of athlon64 months before release, showing opteron (high end) against fastest available p4 at time.

compare that to yesterday's preview of conroe months before release, showing conroe (MID END, there will be better exterme edition) against fastest OVERCLOCKED available a64 at time.


but hey, maybe 6 months is a long time for something to happen. or maybe intel did trickery with their test systems.

 

[AthlonAlien]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Says the guy with Athlon in his handle

Now, keep it one of the 50 threads on Conroe already going please :light:

Actually, I didn't want to get involved in one of the existing troll-a-thons. I am not arguing about performance here, just stating that claiming a victory for Intel, six months before the CPU is even supposed to be released, just doesn't sound logical to me.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: deeznuts

What more do you want anand to say, "don't believe these results, actually, you know what, don't even read this article since we didn't set these machines up"

Basically..Yeah.

When I read it I thought it was more of a "hey, Intel told us Conroe is gonna be 20% faster than AMD X2, and so we're telling you too".

I almost stopped reading at this point:

Intel setup two identical systems.........

Meh, I knew then that I would wait for others to get it and do independant testing. Still I consider it interesting news, but premature to hand out the performance crown for something not expected to be released for another 6 months.

Plus, what's the cost? No mention of that as far as I could see (I'm a price/performance guy, not an OMG I've gotta have the uber part type-person).

Oh, I don't consider myself a fanboi either way. I've got 3 working Intel rigs, and 3 working AMD rigs (plus another half dozen or so Intel old chips lying around).

Fern