Why is AMD better for Gaming?

[Chemical]

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the stupid question but for some reason ive forgotten why AMD is better for gaming. I would have to say because of it's instruction set. If im wrong please correct me and if theres more to it please tell me = )

Thanks Alot!

AthlonXP 2500+ Clocked To 3200+ (2.2Ghz)
Sapphire 9800 Pro 128MB
Asus A7V600
Maxtor 120Gig SATA 8MB Cache
1 Gig Crucial Ram (PC3200)
SB Audigy LS
Logitech Z-650 Speakers

 

[pauldh]

I think your question needs to be reworded a little. "AMD" isn't better for gaming. "AMD Athlon 64/FX" is better than Intel Pentium 4/P4EE for gaming, yet the Pentium 4 is better than Athlon XP. For Instance, if a gamer had to choose between the following 3 chips, this would be the order from first to third: A64 3200+, P4C 3.2GHz, AXP 3200+. I realize this doesn't answer your question, yet it clarifies things a little to avoid all out fanboy war. :tongue:

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[jammydodger]

The P4 has huge bandwidth and a long pipeline, this favours applications that have to move a lot of data and where the instructions can be easily predicted.

Most new games use the graphics card for handling the big chunks of data (textures, and vertex information) and leave the CPU with the small AI and phyics routines.

These routines dont need high bandwidth and it is probably harder to predict which instruction is needed next with such routines. Therefore AMD CPU's perform better.

...this is purly speculation, to be honest I have no idea.

 

[AMD101]

I'm gonna have to say its almost everything to do with the onboard mem controller. Best descision AMD ever made.

 

[endyen]

The term you are probably looking for is Inputs Per Clockcycle, or IPC. The athlons, an early XPs were better gamers than the P4s prior to the P4c because of it, and because the early P4s were memory starved. For a while, the P4c took the crown, only to loose it to the A64s, with great IPC, and the ODMC.