I’ve been building PCs since the 8088 days, and "AMD" always meant "slower but cheaper." They usually just reverse-engineered Intel's designs. But the new AMD K6 is different. It’s based on the NexGen Nx686 architecture they acquired, and it’s a beast.
The Socket 7 Lifeline
The best part about the K6 isn't just the performance; it’s the compatibility. While Intel is trying to force everyone to move to their new "Slot 1" architecture for the Pentium II (which requires a whole new motherboard), the K6 fits right into the existing Socket 7 motherboards.
This means you can take a year-old Pentium 133 machine, drop in a K6-233, and suddenly you have a machine that rivals the latest and greatest from Intel for a fraction of the cost.
MMX and Beyond
The K6 supports the MMX instruction set, which is crucial for the "Multimedia PC" era we’re entering. It also has a huge 64KB L1 cache-double what the Pentium II has.
; MMX instructions are key for video and audio
paddw mm0, mm1 ; Parallel add words
pmullw mm0, mm2 ; Parallel multiply low words
In business applications, the K6 is actually faster than a Pentium II at the same clock speed. It only falls behind in heavy floating-point math (which gamers and engineers care about), but for 90% of users, the K6 is the better deal.
Looking Ahead
For the first time in history, Intel has a real competitor. This is great for us as developers and consumers. Competition means lower prices and faster innovation. I suspect Intel is going to have to work a lot harder now that they can't just rely on their brand name. If AMD keeps this up, the "Intel Inside" sticker might not be the status symbol it used to be.