Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[chipguy]

One item that hasn't seemed to have been noted by anyone is that the 3800 X2 used in the Anandtech review has only half the total L2 cache of the Yonah, so the IPC is actually skewed in AMD's favor even more than suggested. We'd see this if it were possible to compare using AMD's 1MB L2 dualcores at 2.0 Ghz. For instance when running single threaded apps such as Doom 3, Yonah's shared cache 2MB is running against the 3800 X2's 512KB per single thread--four times the cache on Intel's side is required to get close to AMD in fps.

AMD *chose* to use up K8 die space to integrate a bunch
of northbridge functions *instead* of bigger L2 cache(s).
That is a basic architectural tradeoff. Even with its 2MB L2
Yonah is a small (91 mm2) device made in bulk CMOS with
relatively few layers of interconnects. It is likely dirt cheap to
manufacture yet offers dual cores with great performance
at very modest power. Small wonder Apple is moving away
from PowerPC to Intel processors.