Intel’s decision to poke rival AMD with a document entitled Core Truths. Summing up the content that has appeared online in recent hours, the Santa Clara company claims that AMD is marketing old generation products by passing them off as updated chips. Intel critica AMD talking about “snake oil” and using images of used car salesmen in his document.
However, the PDF file prepared by Intel seems to be a marketing gimmick rather than a constructive criticism of the competition. Also because, upon closer inspection, the same company led by Pat Gelsinger uses techniques similar to those it mocks.
Intel disputes the use of AMD Zen 2 technology in some recent processors aimed at the mobile market
In his playbookIntel makes explicit reference to the recent processor for mobile devices AMD Ryzen 5 7520U from AMD, criticizing the fact that it uses the Zen 2 architecture of 2019, despite sporting the Ryzen 7000 nomenclature (which would suggest a much more recent chip).
Intel also criticizes the new naming scheme of AMD for its Ryzen 7000 series mobile products and speaks of “half-truths” that the Sunnyvale company would have reserved for its customers.
This point is certainly worthy of some consideration. If we examine the Ryzen 5 7520U chip, the number “2” confirms that the processor is based on the architecture Zen 2. If the chip was based on a newer architecture, such as Zen 3/Zen 3+, “3” would appear in the same position in the model name; in the case of Zen 4 the number “4” would appear.
Intel also uses similar “tactics”.
For intellectual honesty, it must be said that Intel also uses a scheme similar to that adopted by its competitor AMD. Take for example the 13th generation Raptor Lake CPU: Intel reused the die of the 12th generation Alder Lake chips on the lower-end Core i3 and Core i5. In fact, it was a “re-branding” of the previous Alder Lake.
In the case of the latest 14th generation chips, i Raptor Lake Refresh they do not stand out for an IPC value (instructions per cycle) higher than the corresponding previous generation devices. The only difference is a “minor” revision of the construction process Intel 7 which offers space for a slight increase in clock frequencies.
Is this behavior surprising? Honestly no. Also because with this type of approach chip manufacturers try to maximize theproduction efficiency.
Is it then worth criticizing what the competition does using these arguments? Once again, in our opinion, no. And it is perhaps precisely for this reason that, in the meantime, after publishing the document Core Truths on its official website, Intel appears to have already removed it.
Once again, again in our opinion, these are not the ones strategy in marketing which help you beat the competition. Indeed, documents like the one that appeared online in the last few hours can turn, in most cases, into dangerous own goals.
What is meant by snake oil?
It’s a way of saying that doesn’t belong to us. However, the expression snake oilto indicate products or practices considered fraudulent, deceptive or ineffective, is quite common overseas.
The expression snake oil it has historical origins linked to deceptive medical practices used in the past. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, during a time when medical and scientific knowledge was limited, some street vendors offered miracle oil remedies, often claiming to contain snake extracts or other exotic substances.
These sellers made exaggerated claims about the healing properties of their products, often without any scientific evidence. The term snake oil it has therefore become a symbol of deception and fraud in the field of medicine and beyond.
The opening image is taken from Intel’s Core Truths document.