What AMD Brings to the Table
AMD is known for being the company to go with when you are building a kick ass gaming computer. What AMD lacks in data crunching it makes up for in pure FPS which for a gamer is the only thing that matters. Almost every benchmark you look at for an AMD chip has that chip out performing a similar Intel chip when it comes to games. But maybe you don’t play games, does this mean that AMD is completely worthless to you? Absolutely not, AMD also has the cheapest processors, allowing you to get the most bang for your buck. At the time of this writing you can buy an AMD Phenom II X4 965 (the top of the line) for a penny under $190 do you want the top of the line Intel chip? Well you better be ready to drop around $1,000 on just the processor alone. Not only that but the Phenom II processors can stand their own against Intel’s offering.
What else does AMD bring to the table? Their processors are able to operate at much more extreme temperatures while also staying cooler than Intels under normal use. The reason why this is good is because you can use liquid nitrogen to cool the AMD processor and it will run just fine where as the Intel does have a chance to break under such extreme temperatures.
What Intel Brings to the Table
Their processors are bar none, top of the line. If you want the best of the best you will have to go with Intel because all they offer is the best. Intel almost always comes out on top overall in benchmarks against AMD. Why is that? Probably because they updated their chip architecture, and are so innovative they are almost always one or two steps ahead of AMD. Right now the new Intel chips completely by pass the need for front side bus. Because of this you get a much much faster processor able to handle much more. You can also overclock the new Intel “i” series chips much easier because you can do it without even doing anything. The chips will automatically overclock when you need the extra power, this can in theory help out with games as well.
What is Right For You?
Are you a hardcore gamer looking to build your computer? If you are then AMD is most likely the way to go. You will save money buying an AMD chip and then you can use the money you save to spend more money on a newer graphics card and thus your games are going to look that much better. If you aren’t going to play a ton of games and will do more work with your computer then I would say hands down go with Intel. You can buy an i5 chip for a similar price to the Phenom II X4 and they perform a little better than the Phenom too. Now if you are just buying one from Dell or Gateway I would go with Intel unless the price difference is substantial with going AMD however last I checked it’s not a major change in price.
What do I use now?
I owned a Phenom II X4 for a few months before the heatsink gave out and it burnt out. When that happened I decided it was time to upgrade to an Intel system. The reason I didn’t earlier is because the newer AMD chips use the same motherboard socket so you can upgrade without buying a new mother board and save some money. With Intel I would have to buy a new motherboard which then requires a new type of memory so it would cost me much more money to upgrade. Anyway since my computer died on me and I wasn’t positive if it was just the processor or if it was more than that I decided to just upgrade to an Intel i5 system. It was not like night and day between the 2 systems however I do notice a pretty good difference between the i5 and Phenom II series of chips. Programs open faster and their is much less hang time between doing multiple things. For me Intel just works out better for me, most of my gaming is done on my PS3 so I don’t even have the “greatest” graphics card anyway.
With the way technology evolves it’s always a good idea to do a little research before buying anything. Just google the processor you are looking at for benchmarks. This will usually give you a good idea as to which processor to get. In the end neither company is better than the other, they both have their own pros as well as their own cons.
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Historically, I have found that AMD is better on the price/performance ratio and INTEL is better at being TOP OF THE LINE. If you aren’t trying to play video games or do something like video editing the typical user will NEVER notice and NEVER care whether you’re using AMD or INTEL. When I can save $400.00 on a DELL AMD laptop vs the INTEL version with the INTEL version having about 10% better performance I consider the AMD superior.
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the important thing about laptops though is heat. they don’t get the same cooling desktops get and amd mobile cpus have a strong tendency to overheat
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AMD all the way!
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PS
Your CAPTCHA appears to have a very large audio box at the bottom and its distorting your page!
Firefox 3.5.8
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Hey thank you for the heads up. I’ve known for a while now that the CAPTCHA has looked screwy for IE8 but then again IE8 completely sucks when it comes to reading website so I just assumed it was another IE8 glitch. Thank you for letting me know though I took care of the issue and it should look better now.
The reason why I wasn’t catching it on FireFox is because I’m registered so I don’t see the CAPTCHA ever.
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I’m afraid this article is completely incorrect. If you want a processor that is good for games, buy an intel core i7. If you are not going to play games then you will be content with a crappy dual core, the cheapest you can find will suffice whether it be AMD or Intel. If you are too poor to buy a core i7, buy an AMD because they provide equal performance to Intels low-range cpus, but at a lower price.
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Toby I understand that if you want the best computer available i7 is the way to go for anything. However for a gamer their priority isn’t so much the processor as it is the graphics card. You can save a few hundred dollars going with the top of the line AMD Phenom II that will come pretty close to the i7 for gaming and then invest in a better graphics card that you otherwise would have not been able to afford. Sorry if I made it confusing but yes if you have the money core i7 is the way to go for sure.
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Ignorant nerd…
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I have an AMD PHENOM II X4 965 running at 4.0 GHz, & another PHENOM II X4 running at 3.4GHz, both are gaming rigs, the first has the ATI RADEON HD 5770, the later has an ATI 4870.
Both of them run games as smooth as possible, I also use one as a server that runs 24/7.
Since I switsched to AMD back in 2003, everything has been going smooth.
I dont think I ‘ll ever go with intel.
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ive got a I7 960 at the moment clocked at 3Ghz and its running like a baby.
just wondering if i buy a Nvidia 275GTX will it work with the 9800GTX+ i already have in there?
ive been asking around and have got mixed answers, i dont know who to believe.
only reason im asking is i want to upgrade my rig for 3D so i need at minimum a 275GTX to run most games on high settings, and since i have a 9800GTX it seems a waste to just throw it to the side.
than i have to find a retailer who stocks 3D monitors.
ive checked all my computer hardware stores and none of them have 3D monitors.
i wanted to get the alienware AW2310 since its the only 3D monitor which is full HD but cant find it anywhere but dell.
and they want 700 bucks for it.
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Well, I’m not perfectly up-to-date in proc business, last time I was looking around was a year ago. But what I know for sure, is that AMD used onboard memory controller for AT LEAST one year earlier than Intel.
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What the hell are you talking about? Intel was the first to change things up getting rid of front side bus…
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That was really really helpful. Thanks
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