Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[fastpathguru]

As per AMD's assertion, SOI provides approximately *one* speed grade of performance over bulk silicon. So it shouldn't be much of a surprise to see that Athlon 64 can clock at 2.4GHz while Athlon XP only hits 2.2GHz. Man, what an epiphany.

Hmm, just hours ago you were claiming that SOI provided no benefit to Hammer.

So you now agree it provides at least one speed grade.

How about thermals? Doesn't Hammer run substantially cooler than Athlon, even though again it's a more complex chip?

What would one speed grade and some thermal headroom be worth to a Prescott process engineer?

In the end, it comes down to manufacturing volume, and SOI doesn't help yields, it hurts them. That is to say, you'll gain a bin of performance, but you'll lose some of your lower bins to defects, and that will affect the bottom line more than anything.

It is truly impressive how effortlessly you can change the subject when the facts don't go your way.

fpg