The AMD and Intel MHz Controversy

I've been into computers since I was like 10 yearscarry the bricks to the construction site. Then
old, now 25. Ever since then I always thought thatimagine at another site you have 12 larger trucks to
Intel jacked up their clock speed to make it seemcarry the bricks. Which do you think will get done
faster than AMD processors to the normal computerfaster? If you chose the 12 larger trucks your right
user. Until a few years ago that is still what I though,and this is the path that AMD chose. Intel chose the
that Intel was trying to fool everyone. I now knowother path which turned out to be the wrong one
what the difference is and that Intel was not lying(The information on the pipeline is referring to the
about their clock speeds they just had differentolder Intel and AMD processors).
factors that made it higher.What happens here is that in order for an Intel CPU
This post is directed at people who have the sameto complete a simple task it has to do 22 or 31
belief and to set the record straight. This is by nothings and a AMD CPU only has to do 12. What this
means meant to be an in-depth article into pipelinesmeans is that you have an AMD CPU running at
and how cpu's work etc. This is just to give you the3.0GHz and a Intel running at 4.0GHz, the Intel chip is
basic idea behind why there is a difference betweendoing less work per clock cycle and more cycles.
a AMD MHz and Intel MHz.Basically the Intel chip is running faster in MHz but
First off a MHz is a MHz no matter what, there is nodoing much more work for the same result.
difference in any MHz. a MHz is a unit of measureThis is why Intel and AMD MHz don't match because
similar to an inch, foot etc. A MHz is one million hertz,there is a lot of other factors that go into figuring
MHz is short for megahertz. MHz are used tothe clock rate. Just because an Intel chip sports a
measure the transmission of data on electronicfaster clock rate does not mean that it's faster in
devices. Basically 1 MHz means the device canreal world applications than a slower clock rate AMD
process the data one million times per second. Nowchip.
lets move on to how AMD and Intel are different.Since Intel dumped the Net Burst model for their
A computer program runs on your computer andcpu's now they use a 14 stage pipeline which is much
send instructions to the CPU to be carried out. Thebetter. Using more pipelines and running at high clock
program send out the instructions in order likerates was causing overheating and other problems
1,2,3,4,5 but the CPU may execute the instruction likefor them anyways. These new Intel cpu's require less
so 3,4,1,2,5, this is called "out of order execution".power and can operate at cooler temperatures. So
The CPU breaks each instruction down into pieceshere's one to Intel, now just tell AMD they were
like 1a,1b,1c and so on, but the CPU may execute 3aright all along and I will be happy. AMD has stuck with
before 1a and 2a last because it is waiting for datathe 12 stage pipeline in their Phenom processors.
from 1c. It gets very complicated and I could neverAgain, this article was just to put to rest some of
explain how all of it works. This is just so youthe misunderstanding of how AMD and Intel figured
understand that CPU are very complex and theclock rates and why a slower clock rate AMD CPU
execution of programs is very complex.could out perform a fast clock Intel CPU. This is true
Basically this is where Intel and AMD differ. Theof the older AMD and Intel cpu's, AMD is losing the
speed difference comes from how fast the CPU canspeed battle now that Intel has cut the number of
execute instructions out of order and how fast thepipelines down. If you find any of my information
pieces can be executed. Imagine you need to build ainaccurate please leave a comment or shoot me an
brick garage and you have 22 or 31 small trucks toemail using my contact form.