Dual-core desktop CPU bout: AMD vs. Intel (Amd wins!!!!)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-1.html?tag=nl.e497

...

After reading the round-by-round account of our dual-core desktop CPU prizefight, it should come as no shock that AMD's Athlon 64 X2 chips are the runaway victors here, laying out the Intel Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition 840 chips pins up. If we had to call out one chip, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4400+ is an outstanding bargain given the competition, but as our results show, any AMD dual-core CPU will serve you better than its similarly priced Intel equivalent.

If you're wondering why there's such a striking performance difference between the two companies' processors, it likely has something to do with the memory controller. Among the technological differences between the two, AMD's memory controller--the component that sends information back and forth between your system's CPU and the memory--is an integrated part of the Athlon 64 X2's chip architecture. Intel's memory controller, however, exists as a separate piece of silicon on the motherboard. The additional distance between the CPU and the memory controller adds to the processing lag time and likely plays a part in Intel's lower scores.

Whatever Intel's strategy, it doesn't seem to have held up. We're very interested to see what happens when the next generation of chips and chipsets hits the market starting in January. But until then, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 should be your dual-core processor of choice.
<snip>

[neuvocat]

1. Those Intel-based Macs

all of a sudden don't seem like such a brilliant idea.

[Greyhound]

4. I wondered about this too,

after resisting Intel for so long why they switched when they did, long after Intel's image began to tarnish, and apparently never even seriously considering the AMD processors.
Now I learn Jobs gets a seat on the board, it becomes much clearer.

[QC]

6. Heresy!!!

Be careful! You'll get the Macintologists after you.

[jsamuel]

2. I have 2 computers, BOTH AMD 64

They are beating the P4 I use at work (which is much more expensive)

[yourout]

3. Just upped my box to a AMD 64 with a SATA2 harddrive and

a gig of ram. Smoking fast even with 32 bit version of Windows XP.

[Greyhound]

5. If you are up on current hardware could you tell me who's building

the best MBs for the AMD64? I also read that the latest greatest video cards are a new PCI, instead of the AGP?

[yourout]

8. The next post down has some great hardware listed.

Newegg.com is a great place to buy online or go to pricegrabber.com to find good pricing.

[longship]

11. Ah! I can answer that.

Get an NVidia nForce4 chipset. They're hot and have a plethora of features.

Some suggestions:

ASUS A8N series (several configurations available)
ABit AN8 SLI or AN8-Ultra

There are others which are good, too. But I'd suggest ASUS as top stuff. The A8N-SLI Ultra and A8N-SLI Premium are both amazing. If you're trying to save some bucks, you might try the A8N-E which you can pick up for about $100US.

People rave about the DFI LanParty which apparently has a lot of features, too.

[Greyhound]

15. Many thanks, Asus was always my choice before but haven't built a

system for 6+ years. :freak:

[longship]

7. Need help specing an AMD 64 X2.

I'm going to buy components for one this week.

Still haven't finished specifying everything, but it'll be either an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or an Opteron 175. Both are 2.2 GHz, 1MB + 1MB 2ndary cache, and socket 939. I know that they're basically the same chip. But some people have said that the Opteron has better specs. The Opteron is a little bit more $$$. Is it worth it?

Other specs:
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium MoBo (Lots of expansion!!!)
2 GByte OCZ Platinum dual channel SDRAM (why half-step)
2 Hitachi 250 GByte SATA 3.0 drives (non-RAID)
Hauppauge PVR-250 TV tuner (C-SPAN, Keith Olbermann and --OMG-- Law & Order)
OCZ 520 watt PSU (Stable)
NEC ND-3550A SV DVD-burner (Silver front to match Lian Li, plus it's flashable)
Lian Li PC-V1000 Plus AL case (Ultra cool)
M-Audio High Definition Sound Card (Good sound is necessary)
GeForce Video card (see below???)
APS 1100 UPS

Biggest, most expensive box I've ever built. Kind of exciting. I can't wait to get it going.

I'm not sure about the video card. I will be putting a Dell 2405 widescreen display on it next month, so it needs good memory. Right now I'm thinking a GeForce 6600GT or GeForce 6800GT with 256MByte of RAM. There are so damned many manufacturers of these things, and I have no idea which are good, and which are not so good. I'm not stuck on GeForce, but ATI is *out* because of their lack of full Linux support. Anybody have any ideas here? Video must be *fully* supported by Linux without hassles. Suggested price ~$200, or less. I do not play games.

Box will be running Gentoo Linux from stage 1 build.

Thanks.

[TahitiNut]

9. AMD is a corrupt 'red' company.

Jerry Sanders, one of the founders and Chairman of the Board, has given $25,000 in each of the last 3 years to the RNC. Ben Anixter, Senior Executive at AMD, has donated repeatedly to Bush* and the RNC. Same story for the rest.

AMD gave $100,000 in "soft money" to the RNC in 2000, $50,550 in 2002, and $95,000 in 1998.
2002 election cycle Advanced Micro Devices $50,550 - $50,550
2000 election cycle Advanced Micro Devices $100,000 - $100,000
1998 election cycle Advanced Micro Devices $96,000 $1,000 $95,000
http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp1.asp?txtName=Advanced+Micro+Devices


SANDERS, JERRY MR III
LOS ANGELES,CA 90077
AMD/EXECUTIVE
12/17/2003
$25,000
Republican National Cmte

SANDERS, JERRY MR III
LOS ANGELES,CA 90077
AMD/EXECUTIVE
3/5/2004
$25,000
Republican National Cmte

SANDERS, JERRY MR III
LOS ANGELES,CA 90077
AMD/EXECUTIVE
6/2/2005
$12,500
Republican National Cmte

SANDERS, JERRY MR III
LOS ANGELES,CA 90077
AMD/EXECUTIVE
6/2/2005
$12,500
Republican National Cmte

SANDERS, JERRY
LOS ANGELES,CA 90077
AMD
9/23/2003
$2,000
Casey, Toni C

[Nutmegger]

10. Damn it! Thanks for this. n-t

[jsamuel]

12. Isn't Intel the exact same though? So AMD gave nothing in 2004?

[TahitiNut]

18. Intel is more balanced and not as corrupt.

The reason the AMD (and other) soft money doesn't show up for 2004 and 2006 on OpenSecrets is probably due to a lag in processing the records, I think.

Andy Grove, CEO of Intel, gave $5K in 2001 to the Prostate Cancer Research PAC. I don't see any party hard or soft money contributions.

GROVE, ANDREW S
LOS ALTOS HILLS,CA 94022
INTEL CORP./CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
6/11/2001
$5,000
Prostate Cancer Research PAC


Intel has it's own PAC. http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.asp?strId=C00125641

For 2006, so far, contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (15% to Democrats, 85% to Republicans) .... $78,449
For 2004, contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (23% to Democrats, 77% to Republicans) .... $286,864
For 2002, contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (24% to Democrats, 76% to Republicans) .... $251,779
For 2000, contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (19% to Democrats, 81% to Republicans) .... $205,287
For 2000, contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (20% to Democrats, 80% to Republicans) ..... $81,007

By far, my biggest peeve against Intel is they've given little if any money to Honda. Lee, or Pelosi.


Let's compare to Advanced Micro Devices' PAC ...
For 2006, so far, contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (0% to Democrats, 100% to Republicans) .... $3,000
For 2004 and before ... nothing

[President Jesus]

20. no, it's because soft money was outlawed after 2002

if you want a full report of Grove's (Intel chairman) donations, see: http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Andrew_Grove.php
2-to-1 Dem

for Craig Barrett, Intel's CEO, check out:
http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Craig_Barrett.php
14-to-1 GOP

In comparison, those opensecret reports were pretty useless compared to newmeat.com

[TahitiNut]

22. Oops... yes! (I lose track.) Thanks!

The Opensecrets PAC reports are far better than Newsmeat, though.

[yourout]

13. I doubt Intel is any better......likely all Pukes also.

This country is rapidly becoming a cast society.

[longship]

14. And Intel is in the pockets of the Evil Empire Micro$loth.

So, I'm screwed one way or the other. So, I'll go with the better technology.

Plus, I went to an AMD Martini Party at Linux World Expo a few years ago when AMD announced that they would be Linux Friends. What they've done for Linux since then has been very, very good. As I work in a Linux business, I'll remain loyal to AMD in spite of their political bend.

[Greyhound]

17. Damn and double damn! Apparently Intels Chairman favors Dems.

http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Andrew_Grove.php :argh:

[TahitiNut]

19. That's what I understand from working in Silicon Valley in that industry.

Yep.

[President Jesus]

21. yes, but check out Intel's CEO (puke alert)

Craig Barrett: http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Craig_Barrett.php

he's donated nearly 3 times as much money...almost all to pukes.

[Greyhound]

26. Well that's good in a way, since they both are in repuke pockets

I can buy the best processor without guilt. :freak:

[high density]

27. When offered the choice of expensive crap or cheap goodies

from companies that are both fairly "red," I'll take the cheap goodies from AMD.

[Elwood P Dowd]

16. The republicans thank you for your continued support

:eyes:

[jsamuel]

24. shoot, buy just about anything and your supporting Republicans

[sakabatou]

23. Crap...

I'm stuck with this laptop with Pentium 4

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

25. Ummm... Spend $400.00 on the 4400+ and glue it to the side of your laptop

The osmosis factor is great on these chips!
:evilgrin: