I'm sure there have been threads on this before, but what do you choose AMD or Intel?

I've got to choose one or the other for my new computer, but some tell me Pentium, some tell me AMD? Is it just a matter of personal preference, or is there one that "computer experts" generally use......

I choose Pentium because I;ve only owned Intel and never had a problem. Probably not the asnwer you want, but that's all I can offer.

Its personal preference. AMD chips run hotter, have a higher failure rate but are cheaper and more efficiant. Chipzilla's offerings run cooler but are poorly designed (in my oppinion) - they seem to feel the need to use 31 (!!) pipeline stages in their new P4s (the Motorola G4 uses 7 for example, and the AMD is 18 or something)

the x86 architechture is badly designed, and it seems so strange to me why it is still in wide use. Intel and AMD are taking a 15+year old design and trying to push it to do todays things by increasing the clock speed. More clock speed = more power needed and less efficiency (more energy used for heat). For example, I can run my G4 powerbook with no fans doing a CPU intensive operation and it is fine. Sometimes if I put it under extreme load, one small fan comes on and that's it. Try doing that with a 3.2Ghz PC laptop and you will need plastic surgery over your legs.

See http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=3997 for more info.

AMD's (depending on the specific chip) routinely benchmark at nearly the same or better for power and speed as Pentiums of equal "value", but at a fraction of the cost. They run a bit hotter, though. Will this shorten their life? None of mine have died so far, so I can't really say from experience.
I've had good luck with AMD's and Pentiums both.

My rule of thumb on this - I always buy AMD for desktops, AMD MP chips for low-usage servers (File servers, small web servers, etc) and Intel for high usage servers such as web servers that receive a lot of traffic, database servers, etc.

My reasoning is mainly due to the superior throttling of Intel chips vs AMD. If my heavy use Intel database server has a fan failure on the heatsink, the Intel P4 will throttle down until it can run cool enough to operate in that condition - the server will slow down, but stop - allowing me to basically hotswap fans. AMDs though will typically just crash under that condition or worse, heat up until it takes out the motherboard and chip forcing a lot more downtime (This is from the thermal response experience of older Athlons, I'm not sure if they have improved their response time or not yet.)

Thankyou very much for all your useful replies.

I think I'll go with Pentium, as I'm not on a limited budget. It's also compatible with my existing motherboard, so I won't need to buy a new one of those.

Out of interest, does anyone know if Pentium's come with a heatsink? If not, are they all very similiar, or do they vary in quality?


Thanks again.

If you buy a retail Pentium, it will come with a heatsink/fan + a better warranty. I'll alsways buy Retail vs OEM, as OEM processors only have a 30 day warranty.

The heatsink/fan that comes with it will work fine, but if your into overclocking or want your PC to run real cool you can always go out and buy a diffrent one

Can you please explain the meaning of 'OEM'

I plan to buy a 3.2ghz pentium 4 from dabs.com/uk , I assume these are retail and will ship with a heat sink....


Thanks for your reply.

OEM is Original Equipment Manufacturer - it's essentially the part only, without a pretty box or any accessories.
For example, an OEM video card would be just the card itself in a plain white/brown box. You save money versus the retail (What you'd see in a store) box, but you wouldn't get the cables, free games, etc - just the card only. For processors, OEM is just the processor itself, nothing else. A retail processor usually comes in a pretty box, with a heatsink, fan, instructions, case badge, etc.
OEM is what places like Dell, HP, etc order - they have their own warranty department and custome features so all they want is the stripped down parts.

I'd make sure that what your ordering is retail - a retail CPU is 5-10$ more then OEM, but it comes with the heatsink, fan and a warranty of 1- 3 years. OEM CPU's have a 30 day warranty.

I'd make sure that what your ordering is retail - a retail CPU is 5-10$ more then OEM, but it comes with the heatsink, fan and a warranty of 1- 3 years. OEM CPU's have a 30 day warranty.
I just checked, and as I thought it's retail. It comes with a 3 year warranty and a heatsink.

If you'd consider a Dell box and can wait a bit, Prototype PC Adds Stunning New Features indicates a revolutionary new design is about to be released.
It's tempting.......

Originally posted by jonathanbull
I think I'll go with Pentium, as I'm not on a limited budget.

If you can afford it, get an Opteron or the Athlon FX. I got one (Opteron) and I love it. :)

I've have both Intel & AMD systems, but my main system is a P4 3.06 GHz, so I'll go with Intel this time ;)

I have used both intel and amd for years, i've always been an AMD kind of guy, but right now Intel is clearly the way to go.

go with AMD
they are cheaper and faster for the price
they do get hotter, but put a heatsink and a few fans, and its good to go.
also you can OC (overclock them) if you want
a 1.8ghz AMD will be almost twice as fast as a 1.8 GHZ P4
because of the pipeline reason.

Used AMD for years. Once I switched to an Intel P4 I saw the difference: 100% stability, less heat (therefore less noise), zero crashes, 100% compatibility.

I have an AMD 450 and its terrible!!!!!!!

I think it was put together by a 2yo,i swear to god!!!!!!!!

Its alot slower @ times then others (At procesing)..

When i boot up in safe mode it says COMPATIBILITY MODE PAGING IS ACTIVE........But it wont tell me why!!! (It wont tell me what file is causing the problem)

Any Answers???

The Dude :)

I haven't had any problems with my AMD, one year.

Zilog made a vastly better chip than Intel just before IBM came in and dragged Intel and Microsoft along with it. Interesting to conjecture what would have happened had not IBM entered the microcomputer market.

I've used many different kinds of processors over the years. Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP, Celeron, Pentium, Pentium 3, Pentium 4, Xeon, and I must say that before I recently purchased a 3.0 GHz Intel P4 800FSB chip, I would have said:

AMD - Good for gaming, less expensive, runs hotter.
Intel - Great for number crunching, runs a lot cooler.

The fact is, Intel is better for both. The only "drawback" to using Intel products is that they cost a little bit more. You get what you pay for.

Whoever said something about not being able to clock Intel products... haha, wow. I am running at 1100FSB with his chip.

Intel for sure. Tried both, and never had any problems while beeing on Intel, but AMD? heh... enough said :)

I've never had any problems with either. I've had:

P2 200mhz
K6-2 500mhz
Athlon 650mhz
Athlon TB 1000mhz
Athlon XP 2200+
P4M 2.2ghz

I've also used a lot of P3 and P4s and work and friend's houses. :)

Umm, if you want a personal computer AMD is the way to go. I've seen P4 3.2 and 3200+. AMD's are faster alot. Even though they get hot, it wont reduce the life of the CPU. In gaming and applications, AMD's rock. Especially new AMD64 bit. It's pretty much fastest CPU out there for reasonable price. If I were you I'd go with AMD. I got AMD 2000XP+ and when I've seen P4 2.0 GHZ, I could see the difference in speed. Especially in gaming.

So it's like this:
PC (gaming, applications, personal use) = AMDs
Servers = Intels

ford chevy??

What about this Palidum(sp) thing that intel is doing to check copywrites of programs?