Intel vs AMD

By Carrie Pipkin: Introduction and History

Ramiro Bolanos : Intel and VIA chipsets
Dan Hepp: VIA and AMD chipsets, Conclusion

Part 1: Comparative
History

Generally Intel has been the dominant

producer
of microprocessor chips
AMD has proven to be a fierce competitor
Competition stimulated the industry by
producing new and innovative
microprocessors
In the mid nineties Intel begins to face
true competition
2

Comparative History
80286 chip

1980s-Intel was the only true

producer of marketable computer
chips
1982-introduce 80286
286 was able to run software of its
prior microprocessor
3

Comparative History
80286
chip

Within 6 years, 15 million 286s are installed

around the world

Intel contracts third party companies to

produce 286s and variants

AMD was one of these third party companies

AMD became very efficient and capable of

being its own producer of microprocessors
4

Comparative History
386 chip

1985, Intel releases its 32-bit 386

microprocessor.
Faster and capable of multitasking
AMD, under licensed production,
produces 386 chips allowing Intel to meet
market demands

Comparative History
386 chip

During the reign of the 386, AMD decides

to produce
its own CPU.
1987-AMD began legal arbitration over
rights to produce their own chips.
After 5 years of battle, the courts sided
with AMD.
6

Comparative History
-486 chip

1989-Intel releases its 486DX.

Allowed point and clicking
Initially twice as fast as its
predecessor.
Intel continued to upgrade to speeds
reaching 66MHz.

Comparative History
-Am386
chip

1991-AMD released Am386

Intels 486 released two years prior
AMD believed there still existed a
market
By October, AMD sold one million
units

Comparative History
-Am486
chip

1993-AMD releases first competing

chip: Am486
1994-AMD improves chip with
Am486DX
Am486DX processes up to 100MHz

Comparative History
-Pentium

1993, Intel realizes it cannot

trademark numbers x86.
This allows AMD the ability to
essentially clone Intels chips
Intels solution: dubs its new chip the
Pentium instead of releasing it as the
586

Comparative History
-Pentium

Handles and processes more media types

such as speech, sound , and photographic
images.

It Offered multiple processing speeds up

to 200MHz.

It became well entrenched in the market

During this time, Intel truly dominated

Comparative History
-Am5x86

1995- AMDs first attempt to compete

with the Pentium by introducing
Am5x86
It was really for those who wanted to
upgrade their 486 motherboards
without making a jump to the Pentium
motherboard
AMD did not fare well with this chip

Comparative History
-AMD K5

1996-K5 introduced

First chip comparable to the Pentium

Could be placed in the same motherboard

as
the Pentium, making it compatible

Because it was released 3 years after the

Pentium, it was met with cool reception

Comparative History
-Pentium
Pro

In the previous year, Intel released the

Pentium Pro
Able to handle more instructions per clock
cycle
Intels ability to get a new chip on the
market before AMD has had the effect of
overshadowing any of AMDs
microprocessors

Comparative History
-AMD K6

1996-AMD purchases the company

NexGen who were making a
microprocessor of their own
AMD uses their core 686 processor to
develop the AMD K6
Additionally, they slap on Intels MMX
code making it compatible with
Pentiums.

Comparative History
-AMD K6

K6 was released in 1997 and reached

speeds of 166Mhz to 200Mhz

K6 was significantly cheaper than the

Pentium

K6 was able to move up to speeds as high

as 300MHz, out performing the Pentiums

Intel was ready for the challenge

Comparative History
-Pentium II

Later than year, Intel unveils the Pentium II

It was equipped with MMX instructions, ready to

handle video, audio, and graphics data

Better capable of handling video editing, sending

media via the Internet, and reprocessing music

By 1998, the Pentium began to climb in

processing speeds up to 450 MHz.

Comparative History
-The
Celeron

K6 was doing well as a cost effective

alternative to the Pentium II, although it
was an inferior chip
In response, in 1998, Intel introduced its
own cheaper and inferiror
microprocessor: the Celeron
It was a stripped down version of the
Pentium II

Comparative History
-AMDs K6-2

AMD fights back with an enhanced K6 to take on

the Pentium II: the K6-2

Their K6 chip included what they called 3DNow

technology

3DNow is an additional twenty-two instructions to

better handle audio, video, and graphic intensive
programs

AMD then releases K6-3 and proves to be a threat

to Intel

Comparative History
-Pentium III

1999-Intel responds by coming out with the

Pentium III
It had an additional 70 instructions,
improving its ability to process advanced
imaging, streaming audio, video, & speech
recognition programs
One goal of the Pentium III was to enhance
the Internet experience

Comparative History
-the Athlon

The Athlon was a new chip from the

ground up
It was capable of doing everything the
Pentium III could do, but was much
cheaper
The Athlon was beating out the Pentium
III

Comparative History
-Celeron II

In 2000, Intel decides to launch a two pronged

attack against AMD

First, Intel fights for low-end market by

introducing the Celeron II

It ranges in speed between 500 and 1100MHz.

It was a stripped down processor with enhanced

speed

It was fairly cheap, making it competitive

Comparative History
-Pentium IV

Intel also introduces the Pentium IV

It uses four main new technologies: Hyper Pipelined

Technology, Rapid Execution Engine, Execution
Trace Cache and a 400 MHz system bus

Its major improvement was increased speed,

initially starting at 1.5Ghz with ability for expansion

Today its reaching upwards to a remarkable 3GHz

Comparative History
-Pentium IV

The Pentium IV can now produce high

quality video
stream radio and TV quality
information across the internet
Render upscale graphics in real-time
Perform several applications
simultaneously while connected to
the Internet

Comparative History
-the Duron

As result of Intels attack on AMD,

Intel is once again dominating the
market
AMDs response to the Celeron II was
the Duron, released the same year
(2000)
It is a geared down version of the
Athlon, but edges out the Celeron

Comparative History
-Athlon XP

The Athlon chip was destroying the Pentium III,

but now is destined for the graveyard

In response to the Pentium IV, AMD enhanced

the Athlon by coming out with the XP series.

Test show that an Athlon XP running 1.4GHz

performs nearly as well as a Pentium of 2Ghz

The Athlon XP is a quality chip, but is fading

away under the onslaught of the heavy
performance of the Pentium IV

Comparative History
-the ClawHammer

Intel now holds edge over AMD in chip

technology
Rumored that AMD is developing a
powerhouse chip called the
ClawHammer
It is apparently in a testing stage

Chipsets

Our goal has been to understand the

history and details of the competition and
their processors between Intel and Amd
Also of importance are Chipsets
Knowing some information on chipsets
helps determine an appropriate opinion on
Intel & AMD

Chipsets

A chipset is a group of integrated circuits,

sold as one unit, designed to perform one
or more related functions
We are focused on chipsets that provide
functionality for the CPU
We compared chipsets from both AMD and
Intel as well as an outside manufacturer,
who makes chipsets for both, VIA.

Chipset

Most advanced chipset for the AMD

CPU
Consists of the VT8235
Southbridge and the VT8377
Northbridge.

Main Features of KT400

Front Side Bus (FSB) up to 333Mhz

Support for PC 3200 DDR Ram
memory @ 400 Mhz
North-South Bridge Link @ 533 Mhz
5 available PCI slots

KT400 VT8377 Features

Lightening fast
memory access: 2.7
Gb/s
AGP @ 8X offers 2.1
Gb/s dedicated
speed to 3D graphics
Fast 333 Mhz FSB

KT400 VT8235 Features

533 Mhz 8X V-link

interface between
North and South
bridge
USB 2.0
ATA133
6 Channel Audio

Few Popular Motherboards

using the KT400

Gigabyte 7VAXP
Abit AT7 MAX2
ASUS A7V8X
MSI KT4 Ultra
Soyo KT400 Ultra Dragon

Performance Measurements AMD

(using KT400) vs. Pentium

Using Soyos KT400 Ultra

Dragon Motherboard

Higher number better

Higher
number
better

Higher number better

AMD 760 MPX Chipset

(Dual Processor)

Consists of the AMD-762 system

controller (northbridge) and the AMD768 peripheral bus controller
(southbridge).

Main features of AMD

760MPX

Front Side Bus (FSB) up to 266 Mhz

per processor (533Mhz)
Support for PC 2100 DDR Ram
memory @ 266 Mhz
North-South Bridge Link @ 66 Mhz
Up to 7 available PCI slots

Features of AMD 760MPX

762 System Controller

Two 266 MHz

point-to-point
AMD system
buses

PC 2100 DDR
Ram memory
@ 266 Mhz

AGP 4X video
card support

Features of AMD 760MPX

768 Peripheral Bus
Controller

Host PCI bus utilizing a

66MHz/64-bit interface.
Secondary 33MHz/32-bit
PCI bus interface,
including PCI bus arbiter
with support for up to
eight external devices
UDMA 33/66/100
compatible EIDE bus
master controller
SMBus controller with
one SMBus port

Advantages of the AIPC and

the SMBus Bus

Through the AIPC bus, the Processors

have direct access to the south
bridge
Through the SMBus, the memory has
the direct access to the south bridge
Disadvantage of direct access can be
potential data conflict

The 860 Chipset

Structure

Designed for Xeon Processor

2 Main Chips

MCH Memory Controller Hub

Controls the high speed bus

ICH2 I/O controller Hub

Controls the peripheral devices

Over view of 860 chipset

High Speed Bus

Memory

64 Bit PCI connection

Graphics Accelerators

Memory Configuration

RDRAM
Up to 64 devices supported by the
Paired mode
Single Channel-pair Mode

Utilizes memory modules ( 4 Gigabytes)

Multiple Channel- pair mode

Utilizes MRH-R to control the expanded

capabilities ( 16 Gigabytes of RAM)

Block Diagram

64 bit PCI Support

400 MHz connection to the P64H chip

Allows for a fast connection to a high

speed, PCI device

High data transfer rate

High Speed

A pair are bundled in the chipset

Graphics Accelerator

MCH connects to AGP 4X

Connection speed of 1 GB/s

High performance Accelerators

supported

Does not Support 8X Accelerators

ICH2 Peripherals Bus

32 Bit PCI Bus

LAN Controller
I/O module

Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy disk drive, etc

ATA / 100 (IDE standard for Hard

Drive)
4 USB Ports

Features and Benefits

Overview 860 chipset

Highly Structured

Powered by up to 7 chips

High performance

Apollo Chipset

Designed for the Pentium 4 processor

3 Segments in the Bus

North Bridge High speed bus

South Bridge peripheral devices

Block Diagram

North Bridge

System Bus

400 MHz

Main memory

Connection at 266 MHz

Bottleneck

Accelerated Graphics Controller AGP

4X AGP support

South Bridge

Controls 32 bit PCI Bus (33 MHz)

Supports up to 6 USB devices

Hard Drive

(2.0 Standard)
IDE (ATA 33 / 66 / 100 )

LAN controller VT6103

South Bridge (contd)

Several chips available

VT8233
VT8233C
VT8233A

Each with a unique function

Price drops

Features

Supports Intel Pentium 4 Processor

400MHz (Quad 100) FSB setting

AGP4X graphics

Supports DDR200/266 SDRAM as well as

PC100/133
SDRAM

Ultra fast 266MB per second V-Link between

North and South Bridge

Features (contd)

AC'97 and MC'97 Audio/Modem

Integrated 3Com 10/100Mb Ethernet Media

Access Controller
Support for 2 ATA 33/66/100 interfaces

6 USB ports, UHCI compliant

Advanced power management capabilities

Note Source: (Via P4X266)

Overview

Highly structured

Unique features

LAN, sound, modem integrated

4 GB of Ram

Promises to utilize Intels Quad bus

technology

Price conscientious

pumping

Professional Opinion

After serious consideration to:

Chip performance
Reliability
Some research
$50 from Intels PR
We conclude that the

860 chipset is the best chipset within this

Presentation

Thank You