Intel Introduces 533MHz FSB CPUs - Pentium 4 2.53GHz

Final Words

Intel was creeping ahead of AMD in the performance tests when they released the 2.4GHz Pentium 4, but now with 533MHz FSB parts and bumping the clock speed up to 2.53GHz the performance crown is undeniably Intel's. There are still a few cases where the Athlon XP can come out ahead but for the foreseeable future, Intel will claim the right to the highest performing desktop microprocessor.

That statement doesn't come without stipulations however; since all of our benchmarks used officially supported PC800 RDRAM (going to PC1066 would result in another boost in performance over what you see here) that does mean that in order to get the highest performance out of the Pentium 4 you will have to go to the RDRAM based i850/850E. As you can conclude on your own by looking at the necessary math, there isn't a single Pentium 4 DDR solution available today that can offer the amount of bandwidth necessary to feed a 4.26GB/s 533MHz FSB. Especially as CPU clock speeds increase, the Pentium 4's dependency on a high bandwidth memory bus will increase as well. While we haven't included the numbers here (we're planning another Pentium 4 chipset comparison in the near future), pairing the Pentium 4 up with Intel's 845 solution paints a significantly different performance picture.

AMD's chance to regain the performance lead could be had with the Thoroughbred if they ramp quickly enough since it will take more than an XP 2200+ running at 1.8GHz to take the lead away from Intel. But in all honesty we aren't waiting for the Athlon XP to ramp quickly, we're waiting for the inevitable Hammer based Athlon match up against the Pentium 4. With execution power exceeding that of the current Athlon XP, an extremely low-latency path to main memory, SSE2 support and a shipping clock speed of at least 2GHz there is much to expect from Hammer. There has already been talk of a 3400+ model rating for Hammer upon its launch later this year; with Intel targeting 3GHz for the Pentium 4 before the end of the year, it may be Hammer that is AMD's real chance at regaining the performance crown.

On the flip side of the coin we have an equally as important issue to take into account, price. Although the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 trounces the Athlon XP 2100+, the chip is well over twice as expensive as the Athlon XP. AMD's Athlon line has almost always offered a significantly better value than Intel's competing solutions; whether it was competing against the Pentium III or the Pentium 4, the value was never understated and that's a good part of the reason why the processor has gained such great acceptance. The only thing that has changed now is that AMD is no longer at the top of the performance charts, but still within striking distance.

What will AMD strike with? Whether it be a Thoroughbred, a Barton or a Hammer it's clear that there's no getting rid of this worthy competitor. Until then, expect to see even faster Pentium 4s as Intel makes the seemingly effortless journey to the 3GHz mark. We say effortless because many overclockers have been running very close to that speed for quite a while now. Until the next die-shrink, enjoy.