Which is better?

[lukey121]

Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor E5400 (2.70GHz, 800FSB, 2MB cache)
OR
AMD Athlon™ II X4 630 (2.8GHz, 2MB Cache)

[society]

I'd like to know the answer to this too. But I trust Chuckfickens, Rojash and VHG more than Wikipedia so I'll wait for them to give the verdict on this one.

[ChuckFickens]

I would go for the AMD as being the faster one due to the quad cores, but it's not as clear cut as you might think.

The AMD CPU is a budget quad core so has a lot less cache ram on the chip compared to the intel, this makes the difference far smaller than the difference would be between a full price quad core chip from either intel or AMD

if it's real performance you want you should be looking at intels i7 CPUs, they are the fastest by far at the moment, but out of the two you have listed the AMD will be the faster (as long as the software supports 4 cores, which most new stuff will)

[rojash]

I'd go for the Athlon - particularly when you consider that over the last few years, many benchmarks have been under-reporting the speed of AMD processors, due to a DELIBERATE bug in the Intel compiler which is frequently used to compile the benchmark tests. Turns out that Intel's compiler checks the maker ID of the CPU and deliberately selects highly optimised code if the result is Intel, and deliberately de-optimised code if it's and AMD or VIA. Part of the antitrust settlement between Intel and AMD is that Intel must undo this deliberate sabotage. Simply faking the ID to make an AMD or VIA appear as an Intel chip can improve the benchmark by up to 47%.

Here is the wording from the AMD-Intel settlement:

"Requiring that, with respect to those Intel customers that purchased from Intel a software compiler that had or has the design or effect of impairing the actual or apparent performance of microprocessors not manufactured by Intel ("Defective Compiler"), as described in the Complaint:

1. Intel provide them, at no additional charge, a substitute compiler that is not a Defective Compiler;
2. Intel compensate them for the cost of recompiling the software they had compiled on the Defective Compiler and of substituting, and distributing to their own customers, the recompiled software for software compiled on a Defective Compiler; and
3. Intel give public notice and warning, in a manner likely to be communicated to persons that have purchased software compiled on Defective Compilers purchased from Intel, of the possible need to replace that software."

[rojash]

And here is the wording from the Federal Trade Commission complaint against Intel:

"Intel then designed its compiler and libraries in or about 2003 to generate software that runs slower on non-Intel x86 CPUs, such as [AMD] Opteron. This decrease in the efficiency of Opteron and other non-Intel x86 CPUs harmed competition in the relevant CPU markets."

[lukey121]

Wow, what great answers, thank you all. Very helpful