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Technology Stocks : Advanced Micro Devices - Moderated (AMD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer who wrote (57101)	10/3/2001 8:51:22 PM
From: fyodor_	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 275872

Elmer: The customer thinks MHz is performance therefore AMD must make the customer think the rating number means MHz. We could argue amongst ourselves whether or not MHz really means performance in the Athlon/P4 debate but that's not the point. The typical customer isn't thinking that far. They think (rightly or wrongly) that MHz = performance therefore AMD must deceive them to remain competitive. I think we should just agree to disagree here. I really believe that the average customer believes the NUMBER is performance and that he/she doesn't know what units the NUMBER is measured in. They simply equate the NUMBER with performance, "MHz" doesn't enter into at all. If one looks at it this way, inflating "MHz" at the expense of performance is the deceptive issue. Chalk it up to ignorance on the part of the consumer. If consumers were well-educated, AMD wouldn't have to use a rating scheme. (And I'm betting the P4 wouldn't look like it does, but that's an entirely different matter ;-)). -fyo

To: Elmer who wrote (57101)	10/4/2001 4:38:01 AM
From: hmaly	Respond to of 275872

Elmer Re..They think (rightly or wrongly) that MHz = performance therefore AMD must deceive them to remain competitive.<<<<<<<< Huh. Why don't you rephrase that so it makes sense. It is a deception if the customer thinks mhz = performance when it doesn't. AMD is just pointing out the obvious. Whether the customer will believe it is another matter, but he is not being deceived. Lets say AMD put out a chip with 2 clocks, like the P4, and said that the cpu was operating at the speed of the higher clock; which is twice the speed of the rest of the cpu.. Although only a part of the CPU was operating that fast, would it still be a lie? But it would be a deception. Also with their new thermal switches, any cpu can be rated above its operating speed. For instance, a 2ghz chip, when fully loaded, might generate so much heat, the thermal switches slow it down to a 1.75 ghz. It would just be like saying an engine can develop 450 hp. at 8000 rpm, when an engine can really develop 250 hp, at a normal operating speed of 4500 rpm. Using mhz is likely to be more deceptive in the future, than using a predefined performance rating. For instance, both the P4 and the Athlon could be compared to a 1 ghz PIII on a set of benchmarks, plus intel could have an additional set for optimized benchmarks; but the main set would give the P4 its performance rating.