Fyo - RE: "However, there's a big difference between the situation with the K6-III, which improved IPC in all the WRONG places, and the Athlon4MP, which improves IPC in all the RIGHT places. Clock frequency doesn't come into play in my argument and you may claim that IPC doesn't matter at all. I don't agree with that, however."
No, IPC doesn't matter much, but only because the Athlon's IPC is already good compared to the competition. If the Athlon were merely equal to the P4 in all situations, then higher IPC would benefit AMD, but since it is already fine it doesn't matter anymore. So clock speed is what matters at this moment.
As far as the parallels to the K6-III, the end result is AMD is behind in clock speed.
I know you didn't argue against this, but high IPC alone hasn't made a desktop X86 processor successful, as Scumbria reminds us.
"I see you are an extreme proponent of the "McMannis philosophy" and while I'll grant you that it has historically been correct, I don't believe it to be nearly as solid as you appear to."
I'm an extreme proponent of GHz in THIS situation, where AMD's clock speed is so far behind Intel's. IPC doesn't matter in THIS situation if GHz sets the price.
If AMD made a processor like the P4 and Intel made a processor like the Athlon AMD STILL wouldn't be at an advantage because they would have to price a 1.7GHz processor for what Intel is selling a 1.4GHz processor. AMD is the second string so it has to do stuff like that. Intel is the big dog who does what he feels like.
The only way AMD can truly control pricing is if their processor has higher IPC AND is available at a higher clock speed. Oh wait, the Duron throws that argument out the window. If AMD can't even get that right what can they do???
IPC is fun to look at from a "hardware enthusiast's" point of view, and it might be cool to say my processor is as fast as yours in this program even though it is 500MHz slower.
But this is a a microprocessor business. AMD is a publicly traded company and what matters in the end is the bottom line, how much profit the company makes. Some don't like this, but that's just the way it is. That's why Intel has become one of the most powerful companies in America, because they understand this. |
