ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Workspace IT / Processors

Intel, Aberdeen attack AMD speed ratings

By Matthew Broersma, ZDNet.co.uk, 27 March, 2002 16:11

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

Intel, AMD, Processor, Pentium 4, athlon xp, clock speed benchmarks, speed rankings, Enterprise

NEWS
Intel has launched a new broadside against AMD's policy of downplaying chip clock speed in favour of model numbers, and this time it has drawn analyst firm Aberdeen Group into the fray. The chip giant has funded a new report from Aberdeen, AMD's Gigahertz Equivalency: Inexperienced Buyers Accept Bad Science, which heavily criticises AMD's model-number system as confusing to consumers and as "not justifiable in the benchmark science". The report predicts that "AMD... must soon retreat from the gigahertz equivalency positioning and take another performance rating approach." AMD called the report a "shady marketing deal" that distorts the facts. "They get loads of things wrong in there," said an AMD spokesman, citing the Aberdeen report's assertion that the Athlon XP model numbers are designed to correspond to Pentium 4 clock speeds. "We've always very firmly said that the numbers compare with the previous generation of Athlon, for consistency," the spokesman said. "We've worked hard at explaining it and making it clear." He also said that Aberdeen did not contact AMD in the course of making the report: "If you're writing about somebody, you'd tend to ask their opinion." AMD says officially that its model numbers reflect differences in performance between its current Athlon XP processors, based on the "Palomino" core, and the earlier Athlon chips. Athlon XP introduced the "Quantispeed" architecture, which AMD argues makes clock speed less relevant because the chip is executing more instructions per clock (IPC). Therefore, an Athlon XP 2100+ running at 1.73GHz, would achieve performance equivalent to a 2.1GHz version of an older Athlon. However, Aberdeen's report argues that "clearly the competitive comparisons are to Intel's microprocessors," positioning an Athlon XP 2100+, for example, as equal to a 2.1GHz Pentium 4. That comparison will grow quickly more erroneous as benchmarks, the operating systems and applications evolve, Aberdeen argues. "The key flaw is that the equivalency rating is a snapshot in a moment in time -- and time surely marches on in the computer industry," the report says. "There is a distinct 'Pinocchio factor' that will only grow over time as pseudo-equivalency gradually becomes patently inaccurate." Although Intel emphasises that it had no influence on the content of the report, the conclusions closely mirror Intel's own position on measuring processor performance. There is no single industry-standard method of measuring the performance of a processor, since chips with the same clock speed may deliver different performance levels depending on the application. Intel's own 1.7GHz mobile Pentium 4, for example, delivers roughly the same performance for productivity applications as a 1.2GHz mobile Pentium III. However, Intel argues that at least clock speed is an objective measurement that cannot be disputed. "Gigahertz is a fact, it's not going to change," said Matt Dunford, Intel performance benchmarking marketing manager. "However, it isn't a faultless measurement of performance." AMD's insistence on IPC is also misguided, Dunford says, since the Pentium chip has to execute fewer instructions than the Athlon XP. "IPC is no better than gigahertz," he said. Both Intel and AMD subscribe to the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation's SPEC CPU2000 benchmark, but Dunford said it would be "misleading" to use its figures as a replacement for clock speed. Dunford also criticised AMD's "True Performance Initiative", announced last year, noting that the SPEC standard already has wide industry support. "If you're talking about an industry consortium to measure performance, (SPEC) looks like an industry consortium," he said. AMD representatives were not available for comment.
See Chips Central for the latest headlines on processors and semiconductors. To find out more about the computers and hardware that these chips are being used in, see ZDNet UK's Hardware News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Chips Central Forum. Let the Chips Central editor know what you think by email. And sign up for the weekly Chips Central newsletter.

Related stories

AMD claws for top with new chip

AMD gains ground on Intel

Intel Northwood fails to take the lead

AMD looks to ARM itself for low-power tablets

Apple tops list of semiconductor buyers

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

47 minutes ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

6 hours ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

9 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

9 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

10 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

11 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

12 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

12 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

12 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Moley

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

13 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
ramwellian

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

13 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?
BugStalker

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

13 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB
whs001

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

14 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Moley

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

14 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
45283

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

17 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA
Burn-IT

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

18 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs
ewallace

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

18 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
fgvrg56

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

19 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?
Ben Woods

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

20 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
Marcus Karlsson

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

22 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Latest in Processors

AMD looks to ARM itself for low-power tablets

Apple tops list of semiconductor buyers

Featured white papers

Tech breakthroughs to watch in 2012

ZDNet UK

Tech breakthroughs to watch in 2012

From invisibility cloaks to virtual atom smashing, from Cern to Nasa, this ZDNet UK guide presents the discoveries to watch in... Read more

10 must-read silicon.com Cheat Sheets

silicon.com

10 must-read silicon.com Cheat Sheets

This exclusive e-book covers 10 of the most important issues facing business and technology professionals today, from cloud computing to... Read more

The virtual presenter's handbook

Citrix Online

The virtual presenter's handbook

Web seminars or webinars can be interactive and engaging, just like having every person in the same room, and this white paper outlines how they can benefit your... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault