Computer Spot

The processor or the CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain and the most important chip in the computer.  CPU is where all the calculations take place.

Choosing which processor is better for your computer depends on your computer needs.  Today, Intel and AMD are the two companies on the market that produce processors.

There are options you can consider when choosing a right computer processor:

• Do I need a single or dual processor?

The single processor has only one chip that processes all the calculations and instructions while the dual processor has two chips that work together to do all the tasks.

Some people buy dual processor thinking that it can make their computer faster.   The dual processor is best suited for graphic design, digital photography and video editing.

Unless the application you are using requires much of the system resources, you may opt to buy a dual processor.  But some applications can still run faster at a single processor.

• What is the difference between Intel and AMD processors?

Currently, Intel took the leadership on both desktop and mobile processor market because it is basically more famous than AMD.

Macintosh previously used PowerPC chips designed by Motorola but they now come with Intel chips.

The AMD and Intel chips are so close in performance you would have to be a computer expert to tell them apart.

You can see the example comparison below:

Intel Pentium 4

• Higher clock speed (average 2.4-3.4GHz)
• 4 gates
• 120 million instructions per second
• 33 stage pipeline

AMD AthlonXP/64 series

• Lower clock speed (average 1.8-2.4GHz)
• 2 gates
• 345 (XP) to 375 (64) million instructions per second
• 16 stage pipeline

The comparison above means that Intel Pentium 4 runs at a higher clock speed than AMD but AMD can produce 345 to 375 million instructions per second (MIPS) than Intel.

When you purchase an AMD processor it is labeled as “Athlon64 2800+” which means it can about as fast as an Intel Pentium 4 2800MHz (2.8GHz) processor, however the AMD processor is only running 1.8GHz.

If you want a performance computer, then you can choose between Intel Pentium and AMD Athlon 64.  Intel Pentium has higher clock speed, large cache and Hyper Threading Technology.

Users who choose Intel Pentium want a computer for video and photo editing.  AMD Athlon 64 has lower clock speed than Intel, but also has large cache and Hyper Transport Technology.

Users who choose AMD Athlon 64 want a computer for gaming, movies and home entertainment.

• What processor should I need for my laptop?

Most laptops use Intel processors.  The main advantage is Intel SpeedStep Technology, which allows to reduce power consumption by reducing the clock frequency with minimal downtime or load.

If you want a laptop where you can play games and run multiple applications like P2P on the background, go for AMD laptop.

But if you want a laptop where you can crunch that raw data while your background scripts post data to an access database, go for Intel laptop.

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