Did you know that one of the tricks Digital used to get the Alpha's performance so high is that they tweaked it around the fab machines they used. It was to the point that *only* those fab machines could produce the chip without performance loss.
One of the first thing Compaq did when they took over was sell off those machines.
That's why the Alpha dropped in performance suddenly.
Why do you think AMD's having so many problems right now?
AMD's architecture isn't quite as "tight" as Intel's. So there's some performance losses.
They got around this with LOTS of manual tweaking in their design process and during fab.
With Bulldozer, they went to an almost completely computer-designed layout.
It helped bring yields up, but their processor efficiency took a DISTINCT nosedive.
Oh yeah. Hi. I'm Chuck. And I'm a huge, flaming geek.