Leapfrogging AMD or Not, Intel is Rubbernecking Its Rival

Jeff Moriarty, a program manager in Intel's Enterprise Collaboration & Engineer group, admits to thinking like a corporate traitor once, a long time ago, when it came to picking out a gaming PC:

When I joined Intel in 2000, I was in need of a new PC. I'm what would probably be considered a casual gamer, but I wanted a system that could handle whatever games came out and play them without sweating. So I hit usenet, gamer sites, Slashdot, and other areas of questionable repute to see what people thought was the best bang for the buck. The answer was, almost unanimously, AMD.

Spoiler: for various reasons, Moriarty says he held back and never bought the AMD system, although he wanted to. Now, he adds:

In the intervening years, things have changed. It became so clear that AMD was in the lead it stirred Intel back into action . . . and innovation. I can honestly say I'm impressed by our Core 2 Duo processors, and I have one in my shiny new MacBook. If I were to go look at the consensus now like I did in 2000, I would be buying an Intel system without a doubt.

Did AMD miss its chance to bury Intel in the world of high performance? AMD's chief Hector Ruiz, in an interview recently with CRN, doesn't sound like it. "In spite of all the hype and hoopla, there is not really such thing that Intel has leapfrogged AMD," Ruiz told us.

Leapfrogging? Maybe yes, maybe no. But rubbernecking? Count that as a "yes."