Intel Quad Core vs AMD Quad Core

As you all have known, both Intel and AMD have rolled out their Quad core CPU. Isn't it amazing that you can actually stick two dual core CPU into one casing? That is really amazing. However, it is quite clear that there are differences between Intel and AMD's quad core.

First of all, Intel quad cores at the moment are not traditional quad cores. Intel have stuck two dual cores into one casing. That is how you get quad cores. The bus is controlled by the FSB of either 1066 mhz or 1333 mhz sharing 8MB of L2 cache or 12MB of L2 cache (on later 45nm CPU). It is really amazing to see that you can actually stick 12MB of L2 cache onto one CPU! That is pretty much.

If I am not mistaken, the last time we saw a massive L2 cache was on the Itanium and the Itanium 2 CPU for servers. Unfortunately, the CPU is pretty unpopular and the cost of buying one is expensive so the demand was relatively low. I am really happy to see that the 45nm quad core from Intel is now available (Q9550 which sports a 12MB L2 cache and the clock speed is 2.8Ghz).It is more efficient that AMD's Phenom true Quad core CPU in terms of power to watt ratio.

I have to say that Intel is doing good with its Quad Core CPU. The performance is excellent and together with at least 4GB of DDR2 memory, it rocks!!! I can see the power in Intel's CPU.

Secondly, we need to discuss about AMD's Phenom processor. No doubt that it is a true quad core where by they have designed the CPU from scratch (Kudos to them), nevertheless, the performance of the Phenom CPU at the moment (Phenom 9660 Black Edition) is not up to par with comparative Intel Quad Core. There is still the problem of TLB ( a bug in the CPU design) and relatively slow compared to Intel Quad Core. AMD have released the Phenom 9600 Black Edition so that consumers can overclock the CPU itself without the need to adjust the FSB, which is good. However, there is a problem because the maximum clock speed that people can do is 2.7 Ghz (the original CPU clock for the 9600 Black Edition is 2.3 Ghz).

You all can refer to some reviews mentioned by Tomshardware and Sharkyextreme. Both websites have given the green light to say that at the moment, Intel Quad core is way ahead of AMD's Phenom CPU. One positive thing about AMD's Phenom CPU is that the price is relatively cheaper than Intel's Quad Core CPU. You decide then....