the_vorlon :
Nice find...
I guess it comes down to scalling...
Clock for clock at 1.86 vs 1.9 ghz these parts look pretty darn close.
Intel currently has a huge frequency lead, as AMD closes this gap will hypertransport allow AMD to pull ahead as the ghz gap closes?
On the other hand, can AMD ramp Barcelona speeds faster than Intel can ramp Penryn speeds..?
No (IMHO).
Firstly, I don't see AMD really closing the frequency gap. Intel is using a process which will go further in clock frequency than the process which AMD is currently using (Hi-K and smaller geometries versus SOI. Intel's process expertise versus AMD's. Intel's budget versus AMD's. I'm going to call that a clear win to Intel, although maybe it will be closer than I expect and it may end up being close to a draw. But I don't see AMD winning that battle.)
If the hypertransport bus gives AMD an edge, that will show up in the multi-socket arena. That is, 4 socket and 8 socket servers (each socket populated by a quad cpu... just don't think about the power consumption for home use) will hit the wall first. When this truly happens, Intel will have their new architecture which will circumvent this problem (and, judging by the things Intel has been patenting, it looks superficially like HT, but with some interesting refinements).
Then what happens is that some of the tech that intel has introduced into the multi-socket server space makes its way down into the desktop space.
So, if Intel were to leave their arch alone for ~5 years and just turn up the clock speed, this would be a problem, but they aren't that dumb, can see this coming and won't. Sorry. (Mind you, it does look as if they won't introduce it a minute before it is needed, either.)
So (in my opinion) AMD must have a better arch
in clock for clock terms than Intel if they are to win, or even fight effectively, the performance war. They could go back to the socket 7 days when they didn't fight the performance war but offered better value in mid-range computing, but its not what I'm hoping for and I don't think its what you are hoping for either.