Intel and AMD power consumption as they changed process generations:
I start comparing AMD chips at 700MHZ, since that's the fastest .25 part they made:
Model 1 .25 Micron Aluminum 700MHZ -> 1.6v 33 Amps Typical power 45 Max power 50
Model 2 .18 Micron Aluminum 700MHZ -> 1.6v 24 Amps Typical power 35 Max power 39
27% current drop at same voltage
Now Intel: (.25 part has separate listing for power used by 512K cache: 1.6 watts
- cache power use clearly isn't a major issue)
PIII .25 Micron Aluminum 600MHZ -> 2.05v 17.5 Amps Typical power 34.5 Max power N/A
Added 256K on die cache
PIII .18 Micron Aluminum 600MHZ -> 1.65v 13 Amps Typical power 15.8 Max power N/A
Voltage down 20%, current down 26%
Now here's what happened when Intel went from .18 to .13:
PIII .18 Micron Aluminum 1130MHZ -> 1.75v 22.6 Amps Typical power 37.5 Max power N/A
Added another 256K on die cache (total now 512k)
PIII .13 Micron Aluminum 1130MHZ -> 1.45v 19.4 Amps Typical power 27.9 Max power N/A
Voltage down 17%, current down 14%
Clearly there are diminishing returns without SOI - just as AMD, IBM, and Motorola have been claiming.
And just to double check, here's when Intel went from .35 to .25:
PII .5 Micron Aluminum 266MHZ -> 2.8v 12.7 Amps Typical power N/A Max power 38.2
PII .35 Micron Aluminum 266MHZ -> 2.0v 8.4 Amps Typical power N/A Max power 19.5
Voltage down 28%, current down 34%
Also interesting, here are some power reductions due to core changes by AMD:
Model 4 .18 Micron Al or Cu 1000MHZ -> 1.75v 34.6 Amps Typical power 48.7 Max power 54.3
Model 6 .18 Micron Copper 1000MHZ -> 1.75v 26.3 Amps Typical power 41.3 Max power 46.1
Current down 24% at the same voltage
