Intel and AMD rivalry keeps Moore's Law ticking

Stan Beer
Monday, 05 June 2006 23:21

Your IT - Home IT

While the often misunderstood Moore's Law doesn't actually state that computing power of processors will double every two years (complexity doubles), the determination of chip making rivals Intel and AMD to outdo each other promises to give the old adage a shake.
Three days ago, number two chip maker AMD released a bunch of announcements detailing its AMD64 next-generation microprocessor architecture in the server, desktop and mobile space covering both hardware and software. Among the announcements was the 4x4 platform which will feature a four-core, multi-socket processor configuration and will also be designed to be upgraded to eight total processor cores when AMD launches quad-core processors in 2007.

AMD's current range of dual-core Opteron processors already outperform the Intel equivalent, so Intel, the big cahuna in the chip space is determined not to be outdone by its smaller rival.

As a result, Intel plans to unveil this week its new Merom mobile processor, which is said to have a 20% power advantage over its Core Duo range, as well as a new chip for the server space called Woodcrest which will replace the dated Xeon processor. So the pendulum looks to be swinging Intel's way again

No doubt 2007, will see the pendulum swing back to AMD again, with the arrival of multi-core processor. In the end this is good news for the consumer as it means cheaper prices and a continuation of the production of better and more powerful products. In fact, consumers should give thanks that AMD exists. Otherwise Moore's Law might not.