AMD Launches Athlon XP Processor

Advanced Micro Devices has been claiming for some time that there is more to performance than clock speed in its battle with chip giant Intel, and now the company is ready to bet on it with the launch of its Athlon XP family of processors.

The new line of four Athlon XP processors, available Tuesday in machines from Compaq and Hewlett-Packard, run at clock speeds ranging from 1.33 GHz to 1.53 GHz. However, as earlier reported, AMD has decided to take the focus off of simple clock speed, naming the new chips Athlon XP 1500+, 1600+, 1700+, and 1800+.

The new model numbers are designed to represent the performance of the new chips compared both to previous Athlons and the competition. For example, AMD says the 1800+ outperforms other processors running 1.8GHz, although the chip only runs at 1.53GHz, says Mark Bode, division product marketing manager for desktop products at AMD.

Different Architectures

The processor battle runs back to the fifth generation of x86 processors, Bode says.

"At that point, the underlying work component was done differently with each architecture," he says. Before that, the 286, 386 and 486 processors from both Intel and AMD were using the same underlying architecture, so clock speed was a fair measure of performance.

"You expected that the work per clock cycle [of the processor] was going to go up and the frequency would go up," Bode says.

But with different architectures, clock speed alone does not equal performance, Bode says.

"Other markets already realized a long time ago that clock speed is not everything," he says. "The highest performance workstation or server may not be the one with the highest clock speed."

Indeed, looking solely at clock speed, server chips have fallen behind desktop processors. In July, Compaq Computer began shipping its 1-GHz Alpha chip in servers, while the fastest version of Sun Microsystems's UltraSparc III chip runs at 900 MHz.

"At the end of the day, consumers need to be looking at how applications actually perform," Bode says.

True Performance Initiative

In addition to taking the spotlight away from clock speeds on its Athlon XP processors, AMD plans to start the True Performance Initiative, which would gather industry groups and consumer advocates to develop a "true" performance measurement, Bode says.

"We're working to show [consumers] there is a megahertz myth out there," he says.

AMD expects the new measurement to be in place by 2002.

Until a new standard comes into place, AMD released the Athlon XP family, the first family of processors based on the new chip core formerly codenamed Palomino.

The "XP" modifier signifies "extreme performance for Windows XP," the company says.

Among the improvements of the Athlon XP compared to previous versions are a 20 percent reduction in power consumption, enhanced multimedia and 3D instructions, and the QuantiSpeed architecture, which is "the brains of the organization," Bode says.

Uphill Battle for AMD

Even with the new branding, AMD is still struggling to keep up with the competition, one analyst says.

"You don't hear them talking about the 1900+ and the 2000+," says Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64. In comparison, Intel launched its 2-GHz Pentium 4 chip at its developer forum in August.

Last year, Intel and AMD took turns leapfrogging each other with processor speeds, Brookwood says. "Now we're seeing a situation where AMD, although they're making a big leap, they're still behind," he says.

But one area where AMD does hold an advantage is price, Brookwood says. The Athlon XP 1800+ will cost $252, while Intel's sells its 2-GHz Pentium 4 to customers for $562, according to pricing information on Intel's Web site.

"Unless Intel or its customers are willing to lower the price of its 1.9 GHz and 2 GHz to match what AMD is selling the 1800+ for, I think consumers will consider them both," Brookwood says.