Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[sgolds]

Elmer,

The fact that Intel created a high IPC processor with Itanium shows they understand the difference. The fact that Intel responded to threats in the mobile market with the Penium-M, another high IPC processor, shows that they can reverse a mistake and stop trying to shoehorn P4s into that market.

Face it: The primary reason for the P4 queue design was to come up with a high MHz alternative to Athlon because they thought the public didn't know the difference. From the start of the P4 design (which was rather large and unwieldy), how many good performance ideas were thrown out just so they could get a high MHz chip to the market?

The only reason for the P4 is that Itanium is not ready for the general desktop market, and Intel needed something to counter Athlon. (Yes, I know the P4 was in design longer than that, I'm talking about the commitment to actually manufacture it. P4 was a backup design for the desktop at a time when Intel wanted to - wisely - hedge their bets against Itanium delays.)