"Integrating the memory controller onto the CPU core was key, because 50 percent of the cost of a server is memory," Patla explains. "The No. 1 thing you can do to enhance server performance is give it the best possible memory controller and the best possible memory performance."
Placing the controller on chip means memory accesses are more direct and don't have to traverse a traditional Northside bus.
AMD also makes certain customers understand that it didn't simply slap 64-bit registers onto an existing 32-bit architecture to create AMD64. "The value proposition here is not just 64 bits," says Kevin Knox, AMD's director of worldwide enterprise business development. "It's a superior 32-bit architecture."
In answering back at AMD, Intel is taking a two-pronged approach. It has fielded its own 32/64 Xeon (formerly code-named Nancona), which includes Intel instruction-set extensions that are compatible with AMD's. At the high end of the server market, Intel offers a full 64-bit processor called Itanium (see "Itanium Still the 64-Bit Jewel In Intel's Crown," page 50).
Intel positions the new Xeon as one component of its balanced platform. "We're recommending that people treat 64-bit extensions as just one of a collection of good things that you're going to start seeing in Intel
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