For AMD enthusiasts, the day that Tom�s Hardware released its report on the performance of the Intel Core 2 Duo and the Athlon 64 was a sad day indeed. Having been used to AMD�s machines outperforming Intel�s machines � or at least performing at par � the results of their recent tests really took my mood down. However, for the experts in the industry, this result was actually expected.
So what happened here? Well everyone knows that AMD has been taking the lead for the past couple of years with the Athlon 64. This family of processors has been around for quite some time now. Of course, Intel had to do something about it. Hence the Core 2 Duo.
In coming up with the Core 2 Duo, Intel did not make a mere restructuring of the architecture. They actually did a total redesign. Perhaps it really was inevitable that the Core 2 Duo would outperform the existing Athlon 64.
The Core 2 Duo comes in several versions. Their clock speeds range from 1.86GHz to 2.93GHz. Athlon 64s run at these speeds too, so what�s the difference? They ran noise and temperature tests and the Athlon 64 failed considerably. Even running at the �Cool and Quiet� mode, the Athlon temperature was at 31 degrees as compared to the 25 degrees of the Core 2 Duo. This means higher efficiency and lower power usage. Good news for the gamers!
They performed other benchmark tests and the results were consistent. It�s official. The Athlon 64 series cannot keep up with the Core 2 Duo. I guess it just means that AMD will be releasing something much better soon.
[tags]intel, intel core, benchmark tests,core 2 duo, gamers,athlon 64[/tags]