AMD vs Intel
Difference between AMD and Intel products are observable in their performance and features. AMD and Intel are both American Companies where they manufacture silicon-based products such as processors, chipsets, etc. In processor market, Intel is the most famous, but AMD processors are also at a level that provides a tight competition for Intel. Though these companies produce different other products as well, in this article, we mainly discuss the difference between Intel processors and AMD processors rather than the difference between the companies.
AMD Processors and Related Products
AMD, which stands for Advanced Micro Devices, is an American company that manufactures computer processors and related products. It was founded back in 1969 by Jerry Sanders. AMD manufactures products such as processors, graphics processors, chipsets, memory and also SSD. Apart from these silicon-based products, AMD produces laptops, desktops, tablets and servers as well. When we consider AMD processors, they produce several types of processors namely desktop processors, notebook processors, embedded processors, and server processors. AMD FX, AMD A series, AMD Athlon, AMD Sempron, and AMD Phenom are some examples for types of desktop processors they produce. For servers, they produce a series of processors called Opteron. For laptops, the types of AMD processors are AMD FX, AMD A series, AMD Micro series, and AMD E series.
AMD currently produces multicore processors, and certain AMD high-end processors even have up to 8 cores. For example, the AMD FX-9590 processor is an Octa core Desktop processor where each core has one thread making a total of 8 threads. It is a 64 bit processor and it has a cache size of 8 MB and a speed of up to about 5GHz is supported. The TDP (Thermal Design Power) is about 220W. Most currently released AMD processors are built with 28nm technology and, when compared with Intel, this is somewhat behind. As a result of this, the power consumption and heating of an AMD processor would be higher than an Intel processor of the same range. When most benchmark tests are considered (for example benchmark tests at CPU Benchmarks) with respect to performances, AMD processors seem to be behind. Also, when the power efficiency is considered AMD is again behind. But the advantage of AMD processors is that their price is somewhat lesser than the price of an Intel Processor.
Intel Processors and Related Products
Intel is an American company that manufactures products based on silicon. It was founded by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce in 1968. Intel is mostly famous for the design of microprocessors. It was Intel that produced the x86 based microprocessors that became like the default processor for any desktop computer. Apart from microprocessors, Intel produces motherboard chipsets, integrated circuits, graphics chips, flash memory, and chipsets. From all of these products, it is for processors where the Intel Company is mostly famous about. It has a really high reputation in the processor market where most computers in the market come with Intel processors. Intel produces several types of processor for desktops, mobile devices such as laptops, embedded devices, and also for server.
For desktops and laptops, it is the Intel Core i series that is mostly available in the market. Also, just a few months ago Intel introduced a special lower power processor for mobile devices called Core M. Another processor series called Atom is available for mobile devices like notebooks, phones, and tablets where the performance is not as high as i series processors. Also, there is another type of budget processors called Celeron where the performance is a bit lower but available for lower prices. For servers, Intel produces a series of processors called Xeon. Consider the Intel Core i7-5960X processor that was released a few months ago. It has 8 cores where each core has 2 threads making up a total of 16 threads. The maximum processor frequency is 3.5GHz and the cache size of the processor is 20 MB. The TDP of the processor is 140W and it is built using 22nm technology. When most benchmark tests are considered, Intel stays much ahead of other processors. For example, according to the benchmark at CPU Benchmarks all the best performance processors are the Intel ones. Also, the most recent fifth generation Intel processors are now built with 14nm technology and, due to this tiny size, the power consumption is very less in Intel processors.
What is the difference between AMD and Intel?
• Performance:
• The performance scores of AMD processors start somewhat below (CPU Benchmarks).
• According to most benchmarks, Intel has the processors with best performance.
• Power Consumption:
• According to most benchmarks, the power consumption of Intel processors are significantly lesser than the power consumption of AMD processors ( CPU Benchmarks).
• Technology:
• AMD processors are built using 28nm technology. (This would be 20nm technology soon).
• Intel has even gone to 14nm technology by now. So technology wise Intel seems to be a bit ahead.
• Cost:
• When a similar range of specifications are considered, Intel costs more than AMD processors.
Summary:
AMD vs Intel
AMD and Intel are two semiconductor chip companies where they are mostly famous for manufacturing of processors. Among the two, Intel is the most famous one but AMD also produces processors that provides a significant competition to the Intel processors. When performance is considered, according to various benchmarks, Intel processors seem to be far ahead and also the power consumption of Intel processors seem to be much less comparatively. But when the price is considered the AMD processors seem to have somewhat lower cost than Intel processors.
Images Courtesy:
- AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition CPU by Mike Babcock (CC BY 2.0)
- Intel chips by Brian Solis (CC BY 2.0)
