Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

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fpg, Re: just hours ago you were claiming that SOI provided no benefit to Hammer.

No, I did not. I said it was a myth to assume that SOI is the reason why Athlon 64 has a performance advantage over Pentium 4.

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

No, the TDP for Hammer is higher than Athlon. It runs cooler in some tests because of DBS capabilities (Cool 'n Quiet).

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

Do you mean platform engineer? The thermals might give a bit of relief, but that would be a slight one-time benefit that means nothing once the bar is raised later on. Process engineers wouldn't care either way. If the process could make a 4GHz Prescott today, then management would be driving towards 4.2GHz or more. Process engineers continually develop a process. There is no end goal, and one-time benefits are soon forgotten. I have argued that SOI in particular would have been a one-time benefit with more cost and risk than actual benefit.

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

It is truly impressive how insulting and irrelevant you can get when the facts don't go your way.