The AMD Athlon XP - XPerience the difference !

AMD has been around for quite some time with its Athlon range of processors. The newest addition to this line is the Athlon XP. Although its architecture is no different from that of the Athlon 4 and the Athlon MP, which were launched many months back, it features higher clock speeds and also boasts of a new packaging technology, which makes a reason good enough for a new name. But most importantly, as the name itself suggests, it is designed for the newest and the latest operating system, Windows XP.

Launched to counter Intel's Pentium 4 attack, this CPU also complies with the SSE instruction set thus being another suitable candidate for flashing the XP logo. AMD is reviving its old processor-labeling system, similar to the days of K-5 and K-6, (where a K-5 PR-133 meant that, though clocked lower, its performance was equal to that of a Pentium 133) . These CPUs will be identified by their so-called "Model Numbers" and not their clock speed (as the traditional method was).

These model numbers are supposed to denote the real world performance of the processor as compared to their higher clocked competitors. According to AMD, the model numbers are used to compare an equivalently clocked Thunderbird. But in reality, AMD really wants to show that its performance is no less than that of a similarly clocked Pentium 4. (After all who would want to downgrade their own product?). This means, an Athlon XP 1900+ running at a speed of 1.6 GHz, it is capable of offering the performance of that of a Pentium 4 processor clocked at 1.9 GHz. At a first glance, in an amateur's view it would seem that the processor is clocked at 1.9 GHz but as you have seen that is not so.  But after all this fuss it is the performance of the processor, that really matters.

The Test:

The Athlon XP gave excellent performance overall and it also surpassed its equivalently clocked Pentium 4 counterparts by a narrow margin (here we are talking about the actual clock speed and not the model number!). Also, these Pentium 4s are the older 423 pin based chips and not the new Northwood chips. This is a reason enough for Intel to start worrying. But it is sure to take back the performance lead once it launches the Northwood Pentium 4 processor with 512k of Level 2 cache, which is expected to give a performance rise of around 15%. This will be the time when the real adventure begins. Once the Northwood is launched we are sure to witness some clock