Intel responds to Barcelona numbers

ONE OF THE problems with releasing benchmark numbers is the competition knows what you are up to.

It also gives the competition a chance to plan, scheme, and counterattack. Last week, at the Microprocessor Forum, Intel did just that in a response to AMD's Barcelona numbers.

If you recall, AMD scored just over 4000 on a POV benchmark with a 16 core 4S system ( here and here).

These were 68W low power low clocked HE parts, down about a Ghz on the SE ones coming out in a few months. Expect a lot more from the release bits on a competitive platform.

If 4000+ sounds good, last week Intel trotted out a production Blackford/Clovertown system in V8 livery (We are not supposed to know Intel is seeding V8 test systems and plans production, so don't tell anyone) as a spoiler. Is was running at 3Ghz with a 1333FSB. These almost production parts are the bar AMD has to hurdle.

That said, the numbers speak for themselves, 4933, almost 5000, with only 8 cores. POV might be the worst case scenario for Barcelona, and there are a lot of mitigating factors at play, but AMD still has a lot of work to do. It got thumped on this one, even if you consider apples to oranges comparisons invalid. µ