Intel Pentium 4 Vs. AMD Athlon XP
| Manufacturer | AMD | AMD | Intel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Athlon XP w/Palomino Core | Athlon XP w/Thoroughbred Core | Pentium 4 w/Northwood Core |
| Introduction | October 9, 2001 | Q2, 2002 | January 7, 2002 |
| Clock Frequencies | 1.2 - 1.80 GHz | 1.86 - 2.xx GHz | 1.6 - 2.xx GHz |
| Manufacturing Process | 0,18 µm | 0,13 µm | 0,13 µm |
| Die size | 128 mm2 | 80 mm2 | 146 mm2 |
| Number of Gates | 37,5 Million | 37,5 Million | 55 Million |
| Platform | Socket462 | Socket462 | Socket478 |
| CPU Bus Clock (Front Side Bus) | 133 MHz / 266 MHz DDR | 133 MHz / 266 MHz DDR | 100 MHz / 400 MHz QDR |
| L1 Execution Cache Size | 64 kB | 64 kB | 12.000 µ-Ops (Trace Cache) |
| Execution Pre Decode? | no | no | yes |
| L1 Data Cache Size | 64 kB | 64 kB | 8 kB (unconfirmed) |
| Hardware Data Prefetch | yes | yes | yes |
| L1 Cache Clock | core clock | core clock | core clock |
| L1 Data Cache Bus Width | 64 bit | 64 bit | 256 bit |
| L2 Cache Size | 256 kB | 256 kB | 512 kB |
| L2 Cache Clock | core clock | core clock | core clock |
| L2 Cache Addressable Range | 64 GB | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Processor Data Bus Width | 64 bit | 64 bit | 64 bit |
| Platform Support | |||
| Chipsets | VIA KT133 to KT333ASiS 735 and SiS 745ALi Magik 1Nvidia nForceAMD 750 and 760 | VIA KT133A to KT333ASiS 735 and SiS 745ALi Magik 1Nvidia nForceAMD 750 and 760 | Intel 845, Intel 845D and Intel 845EIntel 850 and Intel 850EVIA P4X266VIA P4X266ASiS 645 |
| Type of Memory | SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM | SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM | SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM, RDRAM |
| Memory Clock | 100/133/166 MHz | 100/133/166 MHz | 100/133/166/300/400/533 MHz |
| Instruction Extensions | |||
| MMX | yes | yes | yes |
| Enhanced 3DNow! | yes | yes | no |
| 3DNow! Professional | yes | yes | no |
| SSE | yes | yes | yes |
| SSE2 | no | no | yes |
| Electrical Specifications | |||
| SMP-Support | no ('not officially endorsed or supported') | no ('not officially endorsed or supported') | no |
| Core Voltage | 1,75 Volt | 1,5 Volt | 1,5 Volt |
| Thermal Protection (Thermal Diode) | yes | yes | yes |
| Integrated Thermal Protection Logic | no, requires logic on motherboard | no, requires logic on motherboard | yes |
Intel's Strategy: Dual-Channel DDR By The End Of 2002?
The chapter on memory is clearly of a political nature, because ultimately, Intel has committed itself to DDR technology after RDRAM was massively boycotted by the market. With the continually increasing clock speeds, especially with the Intel platform, one thing is obvious: the single-channel DDR technology (DDR266) cannot offer enough bandwidth to achieve optimal system performance. A System with Rambus memory or dual-channel DDR helps, but the latter is certainly not in sight. So the only thing that's left for the power user is the possibility of switching to the RDRAM platform. In any case, as our benchmark results show, DDR266 memory slows down the entire system with clock speeds of 2.5 GHz, at the very latest. Even the Pentium 4/2400, which we ran with 133 MHz FSB, showed an indisputable increase in speed when used in combination with 533 MHz RDRAM memory. Highly confidential roadmap documents, which are revealed to only the closest of partners, prove that the manufacturer will already be introducing a chipset with Dual DDR support at the end of this year. This is supposed to provide the bandwidth required for P4 CPUs with clock speeds starting from 3 GHz.
