Re: AMD vs. Intel

It's pretty technical if you really want to know the why. It all comes down to design and structure of the cpu. Ever wonder how a 2.2 ghz AMD cpu can keep up with and trash a 3.2 ghz Intel cpu? Here's a short bit about the basics of the two cpus:

Every 'hz' is a cycle the cpu goes through, and AMD has a short pipeline which pushes more instructions per cycle than intel, and better memory management so the cpu can talk to the memory in less time. The short pipeline and better memory management benefits games because games aren't straight forward applications, the situation and instructions sent to the cpu change every second.

Intel has long pipelines with less instructions per cycle, but pushes a lot more cycles through (high megahurtz), thats good for things like dvd ripping and software / graphic design encoding. Things aren't changing, its a straightforward process that requires fast number crunching, which is intel's greatest strength. Thats not to say AMD isn't good at number crunching as well, but its a small example about the difference in their style.

Personally I prefer AMD, they tend to be faster, cheaper, use less power and generate less heat (which in turn means more stability and a longer lifetime). All of that comes from their design which allows more work to be done in less cycles, and better memory interfacing. Tweet