GreatArtist said:
$135 Intel E6300 Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz 2M Dual Core
$140 AMD Athlon X2 5600+ = 2.8 ghz dual core with 2 x 1mb L2 cache
I got a much faster AMD CPU than the Intel for only $5 more.
Theirs is 1.86 ghz. Mine is 2.8 ghz.
AMD gives you a lot more for the money.
Plus AMD engineers their chips better.
AMD has true quad CPU's not like Intel's two dual cores stuck
together.
The only advantage of Intel as far as I know is that they had more
money to build
new factories so they could go to smaller chip processes (65nm & 45nm)
before AMD.
Also their fastest CPU's are faster than AMD's but cost a lot more. I
don't want to
spend my money stupidly. That's why I bought an AMD. I'm surprised you
didn't know that.
I thought everyone knew that AMD gives you a lot more for your money.
Here is an equation. It is an approximation, but is intended to make a point.
performance = clock_rate * IPC
IPC is "instructions per clock". Processors have multiple functional units
inside. They allow more than one instruction to be executed per clock cycle.
The current Intel IPC is higher than the AMD IPC. By comparing just
the clock rate, you are missing the IPC. And that is an important factor.
To avoid all the arithmetic, try a benchmark chart. Notice how here,
an Intel processor at 2.33GHz (E6550) beats the AMD 5600+ at 2.8GHz.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=922&model2=874&chart=410
For your comparison exercise, you should have selected this one. It would
be slightly faster than the E6550, on the above benchmark. The E6550 has
4MB L2, which would help in benchmarks that have some cache dependency.
Too bad the E4600 is not in the Tomshardware chart, as you might be
closer to parity with your AMD example with this one.
E4600 2.4GHz/FSB800/2MB L2 $144
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115032
Now, compare WinRAR for the various options.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=922&model2=874&chart=434
Notice in the WinRAR benchmark, how the E6550 is beating the E6600, even
though the E6550 runs at 2.33GHz and the E6600 runs at 2.4GHz. One
difference there, is the E6550 has a higher FSB speed. (The E4600 in
this case, would drop down closer to the AMD 5600+ in performance,
because the E4600 FSB isn't as fast.)
The pricing schemes can reach parity, if you look around. If there
isn't parity, then one manufacturer would run away with sales.
Paul