The benchmarks we’ve seen with AMD’s Socket AM2 platform and Intel’s Core architecture, Conroe, have all shown the same thing. Intel will most likely have the fastest processor platform on the market after launching Core, something it hasn’t had in many years. That switching between two different memory standards is not a working defense against a new processor architecture is something most have realized, but at Ars Technica they’ve published an article that more or less show why Socket AM2 is not AMD’s “answer” to Core. The DDR2 support with AMD’s processors is not something desktop users will benefit from this year, but there are other areas where the new memory technology will have a greater impact; namely the more demanding server market.
“So AM2 isn’t going to keep Conroe from retaking the x86 performance crown when it’s launched, but then again it’s not supposed to. AM2’s effects won’t be felt until much later in the mid-range, when both Intel and AMD increase the number of cores per socket and memory bandwidth really starts to become a major bottleneck, and sooner at the very high end with four-socket and higher designs.”
In short, memory bandwidth is not what AMD’s processors are lacking today, therefore DDR2 will not make much of a difference. Similar to the situation Intel was in when it moved to DDR2. AMD’s switch to DDR2 might be useful on the server market on the other hand as the potential of DDR2 increase with the number of processors.
