In regards to the first question which cpu is better....?

Question

The first chip is an amd opteron dual core 2.0ghz processor 1000mhz fsb and the second chip is an Intel xeon 3.6ghz 800fsb if that helps. Does it depend on what my application is for or one or the other is just simply faster and better. Thanks.

Answer 1

Is the Xeon a Netburst or Core architecture chip?

A Core architecture chip would easily beat that Opteron but a Netburst architecture chip would probably be pretty close despite the clock speed difference (as Netburst is designed for high clock speeds even if it means less work is done per cycle).

Though I doubt anything with a Core architecture is up to 3.6 GHz yet so it probably is a Netburst chip. I suspect the performance would depend on what application you use though the higher FSB of the Opteron and more efficient design would probably help it to win.

It'll also use less power and produce less heat.