1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,239 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: are you? So? In an episode last week, I talked 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: about CPU architecture and I mentioned that there are two 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: primary chip design companies responsible for most of the CPUs 7 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: on the market, and by that I mean specifically processors 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: for desktop and laptop computers. Now that being said, there 9 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: are some smaller chip design companies that are in that 10 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 1: space as well, but the two big players are Intel 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: and AMD. So I thought I would do a quick 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,919 Speaker 1: episode about the differences between these two companies and their products, 13 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 1: because if you're ever building your own PC, then one 14 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: of the decisions you need to make is do I 15 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: go AMD or do I go Intel? And just a 16 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: reminder that means that you know, this decision really does 17 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: matter because motherboards, you know, the giant circuit boards that 18 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: you plug processors into, they're only compatible with one of 19 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: the two, like they're either Intel compatible or AMD compatible. 20 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: And even then you also have to look for compatibility 21 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: within certain families of processors. But you can't buy an 22 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: Intel based motherboard and insert an AMD CPU and vice versa, 23 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: and we'll talk about why as this episode unfolds. So interestingly, 24 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: the companies are kind of siblings, that is, they both 25 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: have the same daddy daddy fair Child Semiconductor. And yes, 26 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: if you're wondering if I wrote this episode right after 27 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: my weird episode about logic gates earlier this week, I did. 28 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: And I was still groggy and loopy still am as 29 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: I record this, And that's just how things are. So anyway, 30 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: fair Child semi Conductor was kind of the dad to 31 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: both AMD and Intel, and I guess that makes William 32 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: Shockley the grandfather for both of these companies as well. 33 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: Shockley was a co founder of the transistor at Bell Labs, 34 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: and in nineteen fifty five he founded the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, 35 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: and he recruited lots of super smart engineering students and engineers, 36 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: and he was also notoriously awful to work for, if 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: reports are to be believed, so that led to an 38 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: interesting situation. In nineteen fifty seven, eight of the employees 39 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: of Shockley Semiconductor resigned altogether, and it was these eight 40 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: that would then co found Fairchild Semiconductor. This was a 41 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: branch of a larger camera company that already existed, the 42 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,399 Speaker 1: Fairchild Camera Company, And this company had been looking into 43 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: getting involved in the semiconductor biz, but they didn't have 44 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: the know how or the starting capital to just jump 45 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: right in. So these guys ended up coming over and 46 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: created that division for Fairchild and work there. These eight 47 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: men became known as the Traitoress eight. Though, considering the 48 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: types of stuff that Shockley was interested in later in 49 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: his life, perhaps the word trader should be changed to 50 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: eight guys who saw what was coming and got while 51 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: the getting was good. Among those eight were two men 52 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: who wo had later co found Intel. They were Gordon 53 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: Moore and Robert Noise. But between Shockley semi Conductors and Intel, 54 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: you still have Fairchild semi Conductor, right, So they're all 55 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: working at Fairchild. And in nineteen sixty one a guy 56 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: named Jeremiah Jerry Sanders would join Fairchild semi Conductor as 57 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: an engineer. He would later go on to co found AMD. 58 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: So anyway, before that, at Fairchild semi Conductor, things are 59 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: plugging away till you hit nineteen sixty eight. That's when 60 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: Robert Nois and Gordon Moore resigned from Fairchild and they 61 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: go to co found Intel. Sanders would then leave Fairchild 62 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: along with seven others, So I guess another Traders say, 63 00:03:57,880 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: if you want to think of it that way, in 64 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: nineteen six and they co founded Advanced micro Devices Incorporated 65 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: or AMD. Early on, Intel focused on designing memory chips, 66 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: not CPUs, which shouldn't be a surprise because the CPU 67 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: hadn't been invented yet. We did not get the first 68 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: CPU until nineteen seventy one, and remember Intel traces its 69 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,720 Speaker 1: history to nineteen sixty eight. The CPU actually came out 70 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: of Intel. It was the Intel for zero zero four. Interestingly, 71 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: this was a side project at Intel, because Intel's main 72 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: business were these memory chips. But as a side project, 73 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,239 Speaker 1: some engineers were able to build an integrated circuit chip 74 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: that had all the functions that we associate with CPUs, 75 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: and so before that, all the different functions of a 76 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: CPU would have to span across different components on a 77 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: circuit board. Now you could have them all in the 78 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: same chip, and that was huge, although also paradoxically very 79 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: tiny because chips are not big anyway. It would take 80 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: a couple of years for microprocessors to really take off, 81 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: but they sure as heck did. AMD likewise designed and 82 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: fabricated memory chips, and once Intel got going with CPUs 83 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: and other companies started to follow suit, AMD got a 84 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: lot of business as a second source manufacturer. So a 85 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: second source manufacturer is a company that secures a license 86 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: to manufacture some other companies designed product. So Nvidia does 87 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: this model a lot and outsources manufacturing of its chips, 88 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: and that makes sense because to manufacture chips that requires 89 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: a huge initial cost to build out the fabrication facilities, 90 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: so companies like Nvidia license that out to other companies. 91 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: AMD would produce chips designed by other companies, including Intel, 92 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: but the cooperative relationship between AMD and Intel was not 93 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: to last. The second source manufacturing agreement expired in nineteen 94 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: eighty six. There was an agreement to share technologies that 95 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: was a little more lenient and lasted a bit longer, 96 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: but Intel an AMD would kind of go their own way, 97 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: well kind of, because AMD started to reverse engineer Intel 98 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: chips and then make their own Intel compatible chips, so 99 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: they weren't licensed by Intel anymore. But they figured out 100 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:32,039 Speaker 1: how Intel's processors were designed and then were able to 101 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: replicate that in their own facilities. Now, Intel created what 102 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: would become known as the X eighty six chip architecture. 103 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: The first processor in this family was the eighty eighty six, 104 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: which Intel produced in nineteen seventy eight. This was a 105 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: sixteen BET microprocessor. I just did an episode trying to 106 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: explain what that means when you talk about a system 107 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: being like sixteen BET versus thirty two BET, et cetera. 108 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: And we did talk about chip architecture last week. So 109 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: essentially that just involves the layout of the various components 110 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: in a CPU, and that layout is partly what determines 111 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: the chip's performance. Uh, you know, how much data it 112 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: can process in a given amount of time, how much 113 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: power is required to run the chip, and how much 114 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: heat the chip generates as it chugs along. All of 115 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: that depend at least partly on the chip's architecture. The 116 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: X eighty six architecture proved to be a very strong 117 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: foundation for Intel. If you've been around for a while, 118 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: you might remember IBM compatible computers back when we used 119 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: to call you know, PC's IBM compatibles because they were 120 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: based off IBM's initial PC design. But you might remember 121 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: processors like the two eighty six or the three eighty 122 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: six or the four eighty six. I believe when I 123 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: was growing up, we had a two eighty six and 124 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 1: then jumped up to a for eighty six, not immediately, 125 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: like we let that two eighty six last a good 126 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: long while before we upgraded. But yeah, I remember using 127 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: those computers. So the X in X eighty six is 128 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: kind of like a variable in algebra, represents a family 129 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: of processors that all draw from the same basic chip 130 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: architecture design. AMD reverse engineered the x eighty six architecture 131 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 1: and began to produce its own chips that were similar 132 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: to Intel's thirty two bit three eighty six processor, extremely similar, 133 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: in fact, similar enough that Intel and AMD got into 134 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: some legal scraps over this. The matter ultimately went all 135 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: the way up to the US Supreme Court, and in 136 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four, the Supreme Court would weigh in. But yeah, 137 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: before that, the legal decisions were flip flopping. Some of 138 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: the courts were finding in favor of Intel, some in 139 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: favor of AMD that got reversed by an appeals court. 140 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: Eventually gets up to the Supreme Court and the Supreme 141 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: Court votes in favor of AMD. Also, that wasn't the 142 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: last time the two companies would clash in the Supreme Court, 143 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: but that for a full episode focusing just on AMD. 144 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,319 Speaker 1: I guess now, for a long time, Intel's chips had 145 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: a performance edge over AMD, so AMD was really focused 146 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: on making chips that were more efficient, so they were 147 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: less power hungry. They were also more affordable, not just 148 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: in the price tag on the chip, but also because 149 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,320 Speaker 1: they were sipping less power, you didn't have to spin 150 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: as much on electricity bills. And both Intel and AMD 151 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: were relying on this X eighty six architecture. However, in 152 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, AMD did something really shocking. They introduced 153 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: the first X eighty six processor with a one gigahertz 154 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,439 Speaker 1: clock speed. Now I've been over clock speed a couple 155 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: times recently, but just as a reminder, the speed references 156 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: the number of times the quote unquote clock of the 157 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: CPU oscillates per second. So a gigahertz processor has a 158 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:56,080 Speaker 1: clock that oscillates one billion times every second. And AMD 159 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: was the first company to get there. And you could 160 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: think of oscillations as being sort of the span of 161 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 1: time that a computer has to complete a step in 162 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:10,479 Speaker 1: an operation. While AMD was only a year younger than Intel, 163 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: It was this move in nineteen ninety nine that really 164 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:17,199 Speaker 1: signaled that AMD was a worthy competitor to the industry giant. 165 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: You know, it had been kind of trailing behind and 166 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: writing Intel's coattails, if you want to look at it 167 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: that way. But ninety nine showed that AMD was here 168 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: for real z's it meant business. Internally, AMD called this 169 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: microprocessor the K seven because it was the seventh generation 170 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: X eighty six based CPU that AMD had produced, but 171 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:42,359 Speaker 1: the brand name for the CPU was the Athlon processor, 172 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: and the Athlon would end up marking a divided path 173 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: for AMD and Intel. I'll explain how after we come 174 00:10:50,800 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: back from this quick break. All right, we were talking 175 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: about a divided path between AMD and Intel. So Intel 176 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,520 Speaker 1: processors had an electrical as well as physical orientation for 177 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: plugging into a motherboard, and at the time of the 178 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: Athlon processor from AMD, Intel's specifications were called slot one. 179 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 1: AMD no longer had the right to license Slot one technology, 180 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: so that meant AMD had to choose a different specification 181 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: for its chip to plug into a motherboard. This specification 182 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: would be called slot A. So very confusing, right slot 183 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: one versus Slot A. You get the feeling that both 184 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,320 Speaker 1: companies were going for this so that no one had 185 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: to be number two or B. So anyway, you had 186 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: slot one for Intel and Slot A for AMD, and 187 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: the word slot is starting to lose all meaning for me. Mechanically, 188 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,560 Speaker 1: an AMD processor could fit into a motherboard that was 189 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,320 Speaker 1: made for Intel processors, and this was good from motherboard 190 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: manufacturers reduced the hardship they would have to make motherboards 191 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:06,559 Speaker 1: that were compatible with each chip because the mechanical parts 192 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: of the board could remain the same. However, electronically the 193 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: two slots were incompatible, so the contacts on the chip 194 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: in Slot one chips were different from those that were 195 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: in Slot A, so you could not put a slot 196 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: A style chip in a slot one style motherboard. That 197 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,119 Speaker 1: would not work. And this would hold true over successive 198 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: generations of Intel and AMD chips. The chips would evolve, 199 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: as did the types of connections on motherboards. They got 200 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: away from slots and into sockets. But anyway, the whole 201 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 1: thing got started at this stage where the Athlon processor 202 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: kind of went off on this next step because previously 203 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 1: you could put an AMD chip in an Intel motherboard 204 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: because the AMD had been making Intel style chips. They 205 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: were a second source manufacturer. But this time was now over. 206 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: Both companies would evolve their technologies and the fork in 207 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: the road would get wider over time. Generally speaking, there 208 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: were some basic pros and cons that you could associate 209 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: with the chips that the companies made over different eras 210 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: of their existence. So initially, Intel chips were more powerful 211 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: and had higher clock speeds than what you would find 212 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: with AMD chips, and then early on AMD chips were 213 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,200 Speaker 1: usually a little less expensive than Intel chips, and they 214 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: were more power efficient, so they were also gentler on 215 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: battery life, which was important for things like laptop computers, 216 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: rather than Intel's processors, which, because they were more powerful, 217 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: required more actual power and would drain batteries more quickly. 218 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,719 Speaker 1: Over time, these things have kind of flip flopped a 219 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: little bit. One company would end up focusing on power 220 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: for a bit, the other one would start to optimize 221 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 1: architecture and boost efficiency, and then the roles would reverse. 222 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: So you can't just make a blanket statement of saying 223 00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: Intel processors are faster than AMD. It's more complicated than that. 224 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: In addition, Intel's domination for a very long time was 225 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 1: in single thread processing, so that's the kind of processing 226 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: that a really powerful single core processor is made to handle, 227 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 1: and AMD was focusing for a long time on multicore 228 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: and thus multi threading processing, and for specific types of 229 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: computer processing, AMD could outperform Intel, but in other types 230 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: of processing, Intel beat out AMD. And again, these relationships 231 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: have also flip flopped over the years. Honestly, as both 232 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: companies pushed innovation, the capabilities of their products began to converge. 233 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:49,120 Speaker 1: So they are different chips with different architectures, and they 234 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: require different types of motherboards to connect to, but performance 235 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: wise they're kind of narrowed in on each other. There's 236 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: not that huge of a different between Intel and AMD 237 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: depending upon which line of processors you're looking at. If 238 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: you're looking at the very top of the line processors, 239 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 1: then Intel has edged out AMD over the number of 240 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: cores available, but then AMD holds the edge on more 241 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: powerful individual cores. So Intel the Intel Core I nine 242 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: thirteen nine hundred K, that processor, which is as a 243 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: heck of a mouthful, has twenty four cores and has 244 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: support of up to thirty two threads and multi threading. 245 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: AMD's Rizin seventy nine point fifty X has quote unquote 246 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: only sixteen cores compared to Intel's twenty four with the 247 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: I nine thirteen nine hundred K. But AMD's sixteen cores 248 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: can also handle thirty two threads of processing just like 249 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: Intel's can, and AMD's chip runs at a higher clock 250 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: frequency and greater cash memory than Intel's. So again, depending 251 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: upon what your purpose you're using the chips for and 252 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: what deals are available, that might really guide your decision 253 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: more than anything else. So it's possible that the choice 254 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: between Intel and AMD could really come down to your 255 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: budget and the availability of specific processors and motherboards. So remember, 256 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: choosing the processor determines what types of motherboards you can use, 257 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: and if you go with an AMD chip, then you're 258 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: going to need to make sure you get a motherboard 259 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: that's compatible with AMD CPUs. It also will tell you 260 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: things like what you need to think about when you're 261 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: looking at things like like power supplies. Obviously, this chip 262 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: is not going to be the only component you're plugging 263 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: into your computer. You're going to have lots of other stuff, 264 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: including possibly a really powerful graphics processing unit if you're, 265 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: like you know, an elite gamer type, and that in 266 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: turn will also determine the type of power supply you're 267 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: going to need. In order to run your machine. So, yeah, 268 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: the difference is between a MD and Intel from a 269 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:06,159 Speaker 1: performance standpoint really are hard to distinguish at this stage, 270 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: especially when you're looking at, you know, specific price points 271 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: and processor capabilities, because they're they're getting really similar in output, 272 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: and it really comes down to things like your budget 273 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: and the types of software you're planning on running on 274 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 1: that machine. But that's really it. It's like it's not 275 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:31,320 Speaker 1: as it's not as cut and dry as it used 276 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: to be, where you would say, oh, if you're doing 277 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:35,639 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that's going to require a multi 278 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:37,879 Speaker 1: core processing, go with a m D. And if you 279 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:39,919 Speaker 1: want something that's really good for single thread and go 280 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: with Intel. That's no longer necessarily the case. So it's 281 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: a lot more complicated and nuanced than it used to be. 282 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: Although if you're just looking at how much does it cost, 283 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,879 Speaker 1: that can simplify things dramatically. All Right, that's it for 284 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,880 Speaker 1: this quick episode about the differences between TELL at AMD 285 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: from a CPU standpoint. There are obviously lots of other 286 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,119 Speaker 1: differences between the two companies, but I just wanted to 287 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 1: focus on CPUs because that's kind of what we've been 288 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:12,400 Speaker 1: talking about for the last couple of weeks. I hope 289 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: you are all well. Tomorrow we are going to have 290 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: a classic episode of tech Stuff, a really classic one. 291 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: This one dates all the way back to two thousand 292 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: and nine, so I hope you enjoy that, and I'll 293 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an 294 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 295 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.