Conclusion

Obviously, that's only a brief glimpse at the processor histories of AMD and Intel, with a vague picture of the future. Dual core designs should start appearing within the next year, and rumors of quad core processors are also floating around the web. At some point, we will likely reach the limits of current manufacturing technologies, but that day is still a long ways off. AMD and Intel both have technologies in development that should carry us past 45 nm process technologies, and probably down to single digits in our lifetime. That's assuming we don't get quantum computers first, that make all of the current binary systems seem quaint by comparison.

The amount of processing power sitting in front of you right now was beyond comprehension a couple decades ago. Even the "average" computers of today would seem amazing to people even one decade in the past. Ten years ago, 3D was only dreamt about, and professional 3D accelerators cost thousands of dollars while doing far less that a "cheap" GeForce 3 or Radeon 8500. Ten years ago, 32-bit processors were still looking for a real operating system, and 64-bit was only used by governments and research centers. Ten years ago, a 100 MHz processor was as good as it got. Ten years ago, few people had ever used a networked computer at home, and 28.8 modems were amazingly fast. Here's hoping the gurus at AMD, Intel, and other companies can continue to amaze us for another ten years!

Stay tuned for more insider articles from Jarred, including a much anticipated GPU cheat sheet as well!

Concerning Intel...
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  • mlittl3 - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    I have one problem with this article.

    The bus speeds for all AMD processors are given at their actual bus speed (100, 133, 166, etc.) instead of double the speed as given by marketers. That way, when you multiply the bus speed by the multiplier in the next column, you get the right overall speed of the processor.

    However, the bus speeds for alll Intel processors are listed as their marketing bus speeds (400, 533, 800, etc.). When you multiply this number by the multiplier in the next column, you get four times the actual overall speed (the 3.80 Ghz would be calculated as 15.2 Ghz and I don't think Intel could cool that processor very well).

    Why do Intel processors have their bus speeds listed by their quad-pumped rating and the AMD processors don't have the "DDR" rating of their bus speeds?

    Other than a few typos, great article.
  • ThelvynD - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    You don't have the Socket 604 1.6Ghz Xeons listed in this article that I'm sure alot of folks bought from this thread. http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=...
  • LocutusX - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    Also, doesn't the A64's ALU have a 12-stage pipeline already?
  • LocutusX - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    No Socket 754 Newcastle? Then what the heck's in my computer? ;)

    (not to mention, "what the heck were those earlier AT articles about?")
  • mostlyprudent - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    The P4 Willamete 478 is listed at 1500-2000 - I believe that should be 2400. I have the 2200!
  • Jalf - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    Athlon 64's do have longer pipelines than Athlon XP.
    And a year or so ago, they talked about adding a few more stages (I think it was supposed to be in the Winchester core)
    There's also a lot more to the Athlon 64's good performance than "purely the memory controller".

    Apart from that, cool article. :)
  • appu - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    One of the best articles I've ever seen on AT - up there with the likes of the Memory Holy Grail series and such. Amazingly thorough and researched. I just can't wait for the GPU cheat sheet now! You have that coming as well, don't you? Also, as mentioned by Crassus, it'd be really nice to have the quarter of year information in the tables.
  • Myrandex - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    Deschutes P II Slot 1 266-333 512K 7.5 + 37.2 250 118 + L2 100 1-2

    that should be 66 and not 100 for FSB. Other than that, sweet article. I think there is an AthlonXP-M for S754 w/ the 64bit disabled, but still has an integrated memory controller and stuff like that. I think Compaq and HP sell notebooks with that.
    Jason
  • Crassus - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    Great article. If you happen to have some time more I think it would be nice if you could add the years to the the tables of when each processor was officially sold/produced.
  • Rellik - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link

    The 2600+ AMD XP and MP at 266FSB (Thoroughbred B)
    are 2133 Mhz, not 2083. That is the Speed of the first 333FSB Barton 2600+

    Nitpickmode off :-)

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