AMD to Roll Out New Chip
Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. this week begin a new round in their fight to be first with cutting-edge technology: Both companies are introducing dual-core microprocessors that can crunch data faster than traditional chips.
AMD is expected today to announce its dual-core chips for server computers, which run large corporate computer systems. Intel on Monday introduced dual-core Pentium desktop chips.
Dual-core chips pack more computing power into a smaller space, enhancing performance by allowing computers to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, such as running virus protection in the background while crunching numbers or editing video.
As chip makers squeeze ever more components onto single-core chips -- there are 1.7 billion components in Intel’s upcoming Itanium server chip -- processors have been getting faster. They also run hotter, requiring elaborate and often noisy cooling systems to control the intense heat. By having two cores, or computing “engines,” on a single chip, the processors can divide the work and run at slower speeds with less power.
“If you’re playing a game and streaming music in the background, you’re not going to see any hiccups,” said Liem Nguyen, a spokesman for computer maker Dell Inc. “If you’re watching TV on a PC and reading e-mail at the same time, when you open a new e-mail the TV picture can get herky-jerky. But with dual-core you’re not going to experience any performance hiccups.”
Bringing dual-core chips to market has pitted Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel against Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD as the longtime rivals compete for bragging rights. Intel beat AMD to the punch by unveiling its chips on Monday. AMD countered that its dual-core servers were built from scratch whereas Intel merely attached two PC cores to one chip.
“AMD has some advantages with faster connection between the processor and memory in the PC, to get information to move more quickly,” said Martin Reynolds, a technology analyst with market researcher Gartner Inc.
But Intel’s overwhelming market dominance gives it a clear boost.
AMD touts its dual-core Opteron chips as “socket-compatible” with existing AMD chips -- meaning the old chips can be popped out easily and replaced with dual-core versions.
Information technology managers who run large data centers or Web servers will be early beneficiaries, said Gina Longoria, an AMD product manager for servers and workstations.
“A large website with lots of transactions and users such as an e-commerce site or a bank might update its whole server farm to handle more users with the same number of servers,” she said.
AMD also touts its chip design as all-new.
“At the end of the day, we’ll leave the debates over design elegance to others,” Intel spokeswoman Laura Anderson said. “What matters is the value delivered to the marketplace for users of the technology.”
Most usage is going to be by consumers who need high-power computing or in workstation applications, said Intel President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Otellini. “Even in some of the basic consumer applications running background tasks you can get 40%, 50%, 60% performance improvement.”
Although analysts say the need to switch to dual-core chips is evident, not all agree that the difference between Intel’s and AMD’s approaches is.
“I don’t really care whether they’re built from the ground up or not, and customers don’t either,” said David Wu, a chip analyst with Global Crown Capital in San Francisco. “Did you ever care about whether the cheese in your pizza is from Wisconsin or Italy?”
