The Intel compiler tends to have an edge when you write rampantly inefficient code to begin with. If you structure your code reasonably, the only reliable perfo

The Intel compiler tends to have an edge when you write rampantly inefficient code to begin with. If you structure your code reasonably, the only reliable performance difference I have seen is that the Intel compiler takes longer to compile and produces much larger binaries (4x is typical). The run-time performance is rarely significant. Also remember the "run slow on AMD" feature, which implies that two code paths are often generated.