Intel, AMD Both Make Gains Per Fresh iSuppli Report

Blighted chip maker AMD has something to cheer about as it has made some significant gains in the global microprocessor market in the last one year. According to research firm iSuppli, AMD accounted for 13% of the global revenue share, which, although down 1.1% from Q4, is an improvement of 2.2 points from Q1 of 2007. While AMD hangs in there with long term gains, Intel witnessed good growth in Q1, 2008. Intel’s global revenue market share stood a 79.7%, up 1.2% from the preceding quarter. But there is a slight blemish for Intel as it yielded 0.7% share to its archrival over a year’s span. The next twelve months present a huge opportunity to chip makers as the ultra-portables market beckons with its promise of riches. But AMD hasn’t still fully divulged its plans for the lucrative low-voltage processor market

A Brief History Of Extreme Systems

When the chipmaker introduced its first Extreme Edition processor, Intel was forced to fall back on the workstation and server line of products since its desktop parts lacked the performance. When AMD unveiled its Athlon 64 FX-51, Intel was forced to sell a Xeon processor, which contained an additional 2 MB of L3 cache, as a desktop CPU under the name "Pentium Extreme Edition 3.20 GHz". Initially, these CPUs used the Prestonia core but later transitioned to the newer Gallatin design. At the time, switching to a different motherboard or even an entirely different platform in order to use such an Extreme Edition CPU was not necessary, since Intel packaged the CPU as a desktop part.

The Intel Pentium Extreme 3.20 GHz system

This was possible since the server processors used the same front-side bus protocol as the desktop parts. Only since the desktop and server/workstation technologies have drifted apart has the buyer been forced to buy a special motherboard for an Extreme Edition system.













The AMD 4x4 system
AMD was the first to bring dual-socket systems to the desktop with its 4x4 system. Intel, in turn, was the first to market with a quad-core processor, making AMD fall far behind in the desktop processor performance race. To compensate for this setback, AMD decided to put two dual-core CPUs on a dual-socket motherboard. For this approach, AMD used Opterons from the server segment, which ran a mere 200 MHz faster than any of its siblings at the time and were called "Athlon 64 FX70 to 74." The drawback was that AMD was forced to develop a completely new and very expensive motherboard for the CPU design. To make things worse, there was only one manufacturer that made the motherboard. Today, this system has been all but forgotten, and AMD no longer ships the 4x4 processors.
With the introduction of its Skulltrail platform today, Intel is following in AMD's footsteps. Both the D5400XS Skulltrail motherboard and the new Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processor were originally designed for the workstation/server segment.















The Intel Skulltrail test system
The system is not exactly a revolutionary step for the users - more like a comparatively cheap server CPU and a specially designed and frightfully expensive motherboard. Intel is expecting its desktop buyers to spend a good deal of money on this combination so that Intel won't have to develop anything new in this arena. We've already seen once before how this story can unfold with AMD's 4x4 system, and the same fate may also await Intel's Skulltrail. As the saying goes, "Those who do not learn from history..."