amd vs intel question

[soupnatizzle]

im looking at some cpus and was wondering why athlons processers are around 2.0ghz and intels are up around 3.2+ and the athlons are going for hundereds of dollars more? can someone explain to me how an this amd chip here (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1366608)

can go for the same price as this intel chip here (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1645056)

im asking because i need a new cpu and want an amd and im wondering why there is such a huge price diffrence if the amd is so much slower

[jlreich]

The two CPU makers take a different approach to getting things done. In short, Intel gets things done by using fast clock speeds. AMD gets things done by being more efficient with less clock speed.

The AMD that you linked to is rated as a AMD64 3200+. The 3200+ means that it can perform as good or better than an equivalent Intel CPU running at 3.2GHz. So between the two you linked to the AMD actually has a better rating then the Intel running at 3.0GHz.

If you do a search through the forums you will find much much more info on this as it has been asked and discussed many times.

[hockey man]

CPUs are a big deep hole of knowledge. . .to say it simply, the architecture of the AMD CPUs is such that at 2.00GHz they run equivalent to a Intel at 3.2 Ghz. . .that is why it says -3200+.

[saphalline]

im looking at some cpus and was wondering why athlons processers are around 2.0ghz and intels are up around 3.2+Pipeline depth, pipeline design, dispatch rate, IPC, registers, cache, number and type of execution units, etc.

This isn't something we can explain easily. You'll just have to trust us that clock speed and overall performance are not the same thing.