In the future, possibly the next couple of years or so, how powerful do you think Intel and AMD chips will be?

Personally, I think we may have only just developed 4.2GHz public processors. Perhaps even dual-layer:dual-core 8.4GHz processors .

So what do you think?

I am ready to see High Powered Multitasking really go to the next level. Im not sure what the specs will be, but a comp which can run multiple instances of games all my IM's and the other stuff i have a habit of putting in the background at once, smoothly.

Agreed. But at the moment, I have tried a HT technology Intel and AMD chips, and the results they provide is much worse than the Intel M or AMD Sempron. Intel are even ditching the HT for a while and concentrating on the faster, smoother and cooler M. AMD are concentrating on removing HT technology and emploring Dual Core processing.

These will come at a hefty price I suspect.

When they do come out they will be too expensive for most of us

But we can always save

I think they probably would of moved on to most computers using more than one CPU. And each cpu being about 6ghz

Mik, I think you might want to get your facts straight. HT from Intel and AMD are two COMPLETELY different things. For intel its HyperThreading, from AMD it's HyperTransport and there's not a chance in the world AMD is dropping it. Also, the Sempron is a much worse then the normal AMD processors, it's there 'cheapy' processor. I'm pretty sure you mean the Opteron and Pentium D, since the Pentium M is their mobile processor.

yeah I agree with multiple chips. I think two CPU's would become the standard at some stage whilst they are still trying to bring out faster solo ones...

I really wish it would cause I need more power for all the stuff that I like to run at once

Moore's law will come to end eventually, in fact we're seeing it happen already. Intel and AMD have hit the wall and are going sideways, exploring multi-core processors in an effort to get more.
Make single chips smaller and faster won't be possible for very much longer, since you run into fundamental problems like running out of metal to push electrons down, or clock signals across a die being limited to just under light speed. Multi processors run up against problems of running shared memory and shared caches, as well as the problem of how to split up tasks efficiently.
There are many technical challenges, and while there's probaly room for a few more bigger-faster-better type chips, I think the real future lies in something totally different and as yet unthought of.

Originally Posted by 0beron

Moore's law will come to end eventually, in fact we're seeing it happen already. Intel and AMD have hit the wall and are going sideways, exploring multi-core processors in an effort to get more.
Make single chips smaller and faster won't be possible for very much longer, since you run into fundamental problems like running out of metal to push electrons down, or clock signals across a die being limited to just under light speed. Multi processors run up against problems of running shared memory and shared caches, as well as the problem of how to split up tasks efficiently.
There are many technical challenges, and while there's probaly room for a few more bigger-faster-better type chips, I think the real future lies in something totally different and as yet unthought of.

I agree.

reading some Cnet reviews, end of 2005 was the time when we all assumed Intel would have hitted the 4.0ghz era... (that was the assumption a year before the Prescotts were out)

eventually, a new technology will arise. Nanotech?