Difference between Processors

[DavidDownes]

I'm thinking about to get a new PC and wondering what the difference is between AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core processor 4400+ and the Intel Viiv Core 2 Duo E6320 Processor (1.86GHz, 1066MHz, 4MB)? Hope someone can help. Thanks in advance.

[isj032]

Hi David, well they are both good processors, either one would serve you well, if you're savvy with overclocking then i would buy the core 2 duo as they overclock very well and then perform much better. The Intel would be all around better, they are very efficient and consume less power than the amd and process much more per clock cycle. If you are playing games with a high end graphics card or encoding video then you would definitely see the benefit from the intel over the Amd. If you don't need to be at the "bleeding edge" with computers and want a good processor and mobo cheap then go with amd, the intel at it's rated clock speeds would be slightly better, if you're not gonna overclock then the value is in the amd. Amds' don't overclock too well btw and have less cache on the chip. Most "enthusiasts" would go with the intel chip i'm sure.

[vehelpfulguy]

Well both CPUs will run Windows quite happily if that is what you are worried about.

PC Pro magazine did a "CPU megatest" in December 2006 issue and did an update in the June 2007 issue (which came out in April)

Looking at the update in the July 2007 issue it seems the Intel E6320 is a brand new CPU that has only just come out.

They give a speed rating to all the CPUs tested, using the Pentium D 840 as a reference of 1 (one).

The Intel they rate at 1.2 and the AMD they rate at 1.17 so not much in it there.

The Intel has 4Mb of cache, the AMD 2x512kb.

The Intel Core Duos have had very good reviews overall.

So not much difference in the CPUs so it may come down to other factors, are you building the PC or buying it pre-built ?

So you need to look at overall price, features of the PC, and so on.