http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64757
In other words:
The P4 is crap.
Well, duh. In 90% of all cases a dual 1.4Ghz PIII Xeon trounces any 2.x Ghz contemorary P4-ish Xeon. Sad but true. The P4 was primarily used to win the Ghz war.. .now that AMD has finally proven its case... there's no need to continue to produce poor performing P4's with uber-high clock rates.
With that said.... Intel was touting HT as the primary "must have" in the P4 line... but now with dual core (cores, as mentioned, that are more PIII-like) I do believe the final nail is in the coffin for the P4.
Intel's next big problem (well... continuing problem) is Itanium. Intel is devaluating the Itanium with it's EM64T (a wise choice probably).
Look for AMD to make some serious strides inside the datacenter over the next 2 years. Future 8 way AMDs will perform at less than half of the power of 2 way Itaniums/Xeons and deliver much better performance.
Of course, Intel isn't stupid. Look for them to totally scrap lines and redesign many things in attempt to leap frog AMD. I imagine that work is already starting... we've already heard about massive changes in their roadmaps. I look for the Itanium to remain niche and possibly even canceled in 5 years.
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