P4 vs Athlon Benchmark Comparisons

[Bubba]

Here is a question. When you are comparing two chips, shouldn't all other variables in the experiment be kept constant? I think so. Well in every Athlon vs. P4 comparison there is a glaring inconsistency. The P4 is using Rambus and the Athlon is only using DDR. I know it is not possible right now, but we need to see a comparison of the two chips using the same ram.
The P4 does have a slight edge but I believe that the P4 attains this advantage simply due to the faster ram it uses.
Hopefully platforms will come out that will allow the P4 to be placed on a DDR motherboard. I think this would be a more accurate comparison and then we will see exactly how much faster the Athlon 1.2 GHz is over the P4 1.5 GHz.
If the chips used the same ram, there would really be no contest and there would be no arguements.

 

[Kodiak]

hm... I don't know about that... since Intel is ONLY offered with RAMBUS, and RAMBUS was always part of the design plan for Intel's P4; and since AMD CAN'T go with RAMBUS; since this is what people will be buying, and since they are such integral, unseparable parts of the platforms, it only makes sense (to me) that they should be included...
We may not always like Intel, and we may hate RAMBUS, but they have to be evaluated...

 

[Bubba]

You can't say that the P4 is faster than the Athlon if all the variables are the same. You could say that the entire setup and platform is faster but not the chips.
I thought I read somewhere that they are going to make chipsets that allow the P4 to be used with DDR ram. This will allow a true comparison.

Just imagine the major ass-beating Intel would get if you could put an Athlon 1.2 GHz on a board with Rambus ram.

 

[Guest]

Not necessarily; the PIV was designed for Rambus while the Tbird was designed with SDR/DDR DIMMS in mind. I don't know if the TBird would be able to make use of the bandwidth of Rambus.

Can anyone give more information on this subject?

 

[AmdMELTDOWN]

face it, the P4 is a force to be reckoned with. I know you amd puppies like to curl up to the underdog but, the P4 is here and it is devastating for you guys to read about it, but it is a fact. Tom can't please all. Sad but true.

 

[Guest]

.... The Athlon DDR at only 1.2Ghz is faster than the WhatIV 1.5Ghz in 99.9% of apps.

.... The PIV will be faster on DDR SDRAM, that's why intel is switching to it.

.... In most apps. the WhatIV 1.5Ghz on 400Mhz bus and Dual Channels of overpriced PC 800 DDR RDRAM performs like a PIII 600-900Mhz on SDRAM.

.... The PIV is a total embarrasment for intel, they must have been TOTALLY DESPARATE to launch this MISTAKE at all.

.... The PIV is at MAXIMUM HollowGhz PRICE, but at MINIMUM HollowGhz PERFORMANCE !!

.... Maybe if intel cut the PIV platform's price by 80% to match its performance it would make an acceptable 'value class' CPU.

.......................................................................................................... -Cut Thru the Hype Buzz+

 

[Guest]

I am not completely sure about this, but I believe that P4
was designed with special considerations to hide the
external latency of RDRAM (we all remember that RDRAM has
a higher latency than SDRAM).

Even if it has nothing to do with the chip itself it
definitely has something to do with the chipset, and Intel's
chipsets were always superior. AMD should and must insist
in providing high quality chipsets and better compiler
support.

The comparison between P4+RDRAM with K7+SDRAM is fair but
we should always remember that the minimum required 256MB
of RDRAM (you need two of these, and going for 2x64 would
not be a good idea) cost an enormous amount of money.

I can roughly estimate that a fully equiped TBird system
at 1 GHz with 256 MB of PC133 SDRAM and a GeForce 2 Ultra
costs less than a P4 chip and its MB + RAM.

Petros

Sum of intelligence constant. Population increasing.