does the processor in a computer make a difference?

Question

getting an AMD or an Intel? any significant difference in these two? Thanks for your opinion.

yes, thanks for pointing that out...this is assuming that ram, graphics card, hard drive are the same.

Answer 1

It is not a difference of company so much as generation and model
The two companies ( competitors ) go back and forth as to who who is faster or better , or more reliable
The competition drives of of this innovation.
Generally you go in product families
i.e a pentium 3 is always faster than a processor in a pentium 2 family line- to give an old example
( no matter what the speed rating)
Celerons are scaled down chips with lot less cache memory than the pentiums
( cache memory is expensive to put on a chip)
so a pentium 4 that was rated much lower in speed would beat the hell out a much higher rated speed celeron
The companies will change the names as soon as consumers realize the game .
It can be hard to find actual comparisons
It is not so much company name - amd or intel or intel and amd
they are usually not that far off unless you are doing major rocket science work
Heat is always an issue for reliability
The latest chips are using server technologies - dual core etc etc etc in an effort to deal with heat which was a major limiting factor especially in terms of reliability

Answer 2

The main difference between AMD and Intel procerssors is actually the price - Intel is more expensive. As far as I can tell, AMD processors are just as fine as Intel processors, but at a lower price.

Answer 3

Right now the Intel Quad Core CPU is top dog as far as processing power(for now). I am partial to AMD myself. If you are looking for an extremely fast system for now. Get an Intel Quad Core CPU based system. AMD is coming out shortly with a Quad Core CPU code-named Phenom. So If don't need a system immediately, I would wait a couple of months. AMD processors are more efficent power wise too. Also AMD's CPU's are RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Chip) based chips and Intel's CPU's are CISC(Complex Instruction Set Chip) based.
http://cse.stanford.edu/class/sophomore-college/projects-00/risc/risccisc/
Before Intel released it's Quad Core CPU's, AMD was top dog as far as processing power and performance. Food for thought.

Answer 4

It will depend on your requirement. Generally, AMD is good for games, certain applications are specially optimized to work on intel processors. You can check their performance comparison on their respective websites. AMD is definitely better than the intel's budget processor (the celeron) which is meant for home/ entry level computing.

Answer 5

Intel is more durable and amd ususally burns easier, and also runs on higher temperatures...
i'd go with Intel....
P4 or if u can aford a Duo 2 Quad is the best (or anything in-between)
about 1-3GB of RAM
a GPU card with at least 128MB but 512MB is the best for gaming

Answer 6

AMD = fast, constant performance
Intel = fast(er) but only for a little while - Intels actually seem to run warmer than AMDs as far as I can tell.

Answer 7

If you notice computer manufactures like Dell every other year will switch there choice in there stock computers.
They both are very very good, I would hate to make a comparison as to which one is better. Naturally they both want to be #1. Either Choice would be GOOD and are at the top of there game.
Don

Answer 8

Personally I will never go with Intel again. 2 processors have died on me, AMD has never failed.