New Processors

[iansl]

I'm wondering about the new AMD Opteron and the Intel Pentium-M. Does the PM outperform P4s of its GHz (due to the larger cache?), and by how much? What about the Opteron? I wonder how much those motherboards designed to fit the things cost...probably a $bunch$. Also, how well does the new p4 outperform the older 533 model (3 GHz). Of course, with the fastest RAM possible (DC DDR and DC or 32bit RDRAM).

[query]

Yes, the Pentium-M outperforms the mobile P4, clock for clock - a 1.6 GHz P-M is the equivalent of a 2.2-2.4 GHz mobile P4.  Intel has a bit of a problem on its hands, as it has usually sold on megahertz, and now must recant somewhat, which will make it interesting (AMD has of course been doing that for a while now).

The Opteron is a 32/64 bit CPU - it is most useful in workstation/server duty with a 64-bit operating system (which Microsoft is about to spring in the form of Server 2003, and which Linux developers likewise have ready).  It's able to run 32-bit OSes (Windows XP, etc.) but doesn't hold as much advantage there (though it can run them natively, unlike the Intel Itanium, which uses a slow emulation mode to do so).

The Opteron CPUs are (for the dual versions) around $800 each - the boards will be server class for a while, meaning not the $150 desktop price range - more like 3-4 times that, and up.

[iansl]

Whoa! Zas great! :D Lets see-2.2-2.4-1.6-between 37.5 and  50 percent better! NEAT! Thanx abunch.

[Neon]

I think you just made a sale for Intel, query. ;)

[iansl]

Maybe...and maybe not. :D.