Users stand to win as Intel-AMD chip wars enter a new era
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/1/2005 7:00:00 AM
Counting the number of cores—instead of measuring clock speeds—could soon be the primary method of determining which servers and PCs to buy.
The multi-core processor era officially kicked off this past spring, when both Intel and AMD introduced dual-core processors for desktop PCs and servers.
Both companies also are working on designs that call for packing even more cores into a single processor.
Currently, AMD dual-core processors are available in IBM eServer BladeCenter machines and Hewlett-Packard Proliant BL4SP servers. The Intel Xeon dual-core processors are available in DellPower Edge SC430 servers.
Both Intel and AMD have announced plans to introduce dual-chips to support mobile devices in 2006. Jeff Austin, product marketing manager in Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, says Intel expects more than 70 percent of the chips it makes for desktop and mobile devices to have at least two cores by the end of 2006.
Multi-core chips offer potential benefits to both PC users and IT managers. On the user side, the chips promise smoother and faster performance for workers using multiple applications simultaneously. Meanwhile, IT managers can expect to manage heavier workloads with fewer servers.
"The goal of dual-core processing is to get the next generation of performance in the same footprint," says Bruce Shaw, AMD's director of worldwide commercial marketing. "No one is building bigger data centers, and everyone is working with smaller IT staffs."
Intel's Austin says the move to multi-core also is a response to the way workers now use computers. "If you look at how users in the corporate space use computing platforms today versus five or 10 years ago, you will notice they almost always have more than one application running," says Austin. "The IT department has applications like antivirus software and data-backup programs running in the background. Dual-core processors [handle] all these tasks while still giving the user a seamless environment for running multiple productivity applications in the foreground."
Workloads like these typically cause machines running on single-core processors to slow down as various operations wait to be processed. In multi-core systems—where each processor has its own cache—multiple operations can run at the same time, preventing slowdowns.
AMD's Shaw says manufacturers should be particularly interested in multi-core systems for running compute-intensive applications like CAD and supply chain optimization. He also points out that multi-core processors typically require less energy to do the same amount of work as a single-core processor—a fact that ultimately could lower the cost of electricity in data centers.
"Everyone in IT recognizes the power issue," says Shaw, "but it is not as evident across the enterprise. The person paying the electric bill doesn't really think about what IT could do to save money."
Shaw claims AMD's dual-core chips actually use less energy while exhibiting more power than Intel's. AMD has even challenged Intel to a "dual-core duel" in which it hopes to prove those claims. Intel has not responded to the challenge. "In general, we don't talk about the competition," Austin says. "Our goal is to deliver value, in volume, to our customers."
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