How are Athlons so fast?

[ShawnD1]

According to Sisoft Sandra, a 2.8ghz P4 can do almost twice as many floating point operations as my Athlon XP @ 3200+.

If Athlons can't do as many floating point operations, how can they be similar speed?

[Dj-Icer]

Nearly all cyber cafes here in Itabashiku, Tokyo, where I live uses AMD Athlon processor. They say it really is good for games.

[Gait_Keeper]

there are 10 of millions of threads addressing that very query.

I can't remember how it was that put it best, I think it was Omar

something like a 4 cylinder car and a 8 cylinder car both can reach 80mph
the 8 cylinder will do it better

some thing like that

[Gait_Keeper]

OK I found it and it was Omar


Quote:
amd = 6 cylinder engine
intel = 4 cylinder engine

they both put out 240 hp . to get 240hp the amd has to run at 2000 rpm . the intel has to run at 4000 rpm . they both get to 240hp but one has to spin faster to get there .

[wju425]

The two cpus have their strong points and weaknesses. It's hard to actually compare them. One thing I know is that Intels are very strong in floating points. Amds are very popular for home users (like us) because we mostly use our computers for multimedia and games as well as small businesses. Big businesses tend to use Intels as they excel in number crunchings and cads. Amds can do it too though.

\o/ Billy

[filipino]

i trust Intel never did AMD...

[pickel]

I have a P4 laptop I really love, but when I built my recent desktop, I went with AMD for my needs for now a


Overclocking was also a factor.

[Chuckiechan]

I like AMD mainly for the price.

For the stuff I do, home office & games, photo's, etc. I would need sophistocated test equipment to find the difference! I just don't care that much.

You get more "Bang for the Buck"...

[ShawnD1]

Originally Posted by wju425

One thing I know is that Intels are very strong in floating points.

Aren't most operations floating point operations? If not, what types of programs do floating point (other than CAD and distributed computing programs).

[DPA]

Are you sure that you aren't looking at the bar for SSE2 calculations? Look at the inner and lighter colored bar--that should represent the FPU.

By default Athlons contain larger FPU units, and therefore should be doing as well or better than P4's of the same speed rating.

Also, like the explanation above, Athlons perform 6 cycles per clock whereas Pentiums perform 4 cycles per clock--