AMD or Intel – Clearing The Confusion
July 4th, 2007 | This article was viewed 20,232 times so far...
Ahh, the age old question – AMD or Intel? While PC Enthusiasts often argue over which one being better, people who are not familiar with them often are just plain confused over which brand being better. While I was never once confused on which processor I should get, it’s not uncommon to come by people who are confused over the same matter.
Through the years the confusion has never cease to propagate itself and one of the most misleading information I have ever come by would be something in the lines of the following :-
AMD processors are HOT and UNSTABLE, get Intel processors as they’re not HOT and STABLE.
As an experienced PC Hardware enthusiast, I can tell you whole heartedly without a shadow of doubt that the above is totally UNTRUE. I’ve handled many processors from both AMD and Intel, all of them served me well and with absolute stability.
In the early days when AMD processors were hot, Intel processors weren’t that far off in terms of heat either. And despite being hot, none of them were unstable.
Sometimes it’s actually laughable when you think about these Myth-mongers. They have always claimed that AMD is hotter than Intel, little did they realize that just a short while back Intel’s Pentium range of processors were much hotter than their AMD counter-part.
Recently I came by someone who expressed the following ……
I heard that AMD processor have the advantages of better graphic but INTEL is well organize and advise by most of the sales man..
I’m headache about this. Can anyone tell me which is actually better?
I don’t blame him for asking questions on AMD vs Intel, at least he’s got the guts to seek the truth. It’s clear that there are still people going around preaching something they know nuts about. I think those guys don’t realize that for the past nearly a decade or so there’s this thing called Graphic Accelerators, also known as Graphic Cards.
I can’t think of what other thing else they could’ve meant by graphic. And the part about Intel being well-organized – in what way? And AMD is not organized? Baseless information at best. Clearly it was a ploy to get someone to buy Intel processor from them.
Frankly speaking, there’s just no way one can tell whether a computer is using an Intel processor and an AMD processor. If you were given 2 PCs placed side-by-side for you to guess which one’s on AMD processor and which one’s on Intel processor – you are almost guaranteed to resort to wild guesses.
Perhaps at this point you’re wondering about my PC Buying Guide, why Intel on some cases and AMD on others? Simple! If you were to compare processors at a similar price point, one processor will surely be better than the other but usually not by far. My choice would be based on the processor that provides best value for money.
After reading this article, I do hope that you have a more clearer picture on both AMD and Intel processors – knowing that choosing any of them will never be a wrong move. 
July 12th, 2007 at 11:40 am
I think everyone really has to do their homework of what to buy and which is suited for their needs. Although it’s marketed everyone does everything, there is a niche targeted by them.
Surprisingly, it’s our job as a customer to find their target so we would benefit from it later.
I think the next article you could talk about is – how do you know who to trust?
In other words, there are web reviews, magazine reviews, blog reviews and etc – but who do you trust to help you make decision in buying the correct item.
p/s: your homepage now is damn messy wei!
July 12th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Yeah, plenty of topics to go about.
And yes, there’s no denying that it’s messy. The site is undergoing some changes actually.
July 17th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I do believe that your article is better than mine in terms of computers.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Don’t worry, perhaps your article has a different purpose.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
I do see that Dell uses it as a Marketing strategy.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Are you referring to what you posted on your blog?
If yes, then yeah they do. And not just them, others like Intel, AMD, HP blablablablblabla. they all do.
it’s part and parcel of marketing. usually they’ll state the details on the fine-print.
It’s up to people like us to educate the rest.
August 7th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
One more point to ponder is that the choice of processors will directly influence the choice of motherboards and other components on-board. I watched a video about advantages of AMD direct connect architecture on its website, but I can’t tell how far this is true.
If you’re talking about usage experience, I can say that both AMD and Intel makes no difference. Benchmark test results are not 100% reliable as many variables are influencing it.
August 8th, 2007 at 3:12 am
Yup. Many things influence it, it’s not just speed, it’s about how the architecture works.
I’ve recently read a comparison between Intel’s processor – Quad core vs Dual core.
Quad core doesn’t win on all arena of combat, well at least not for now.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Very nice and practical article about CPU.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:01 am
It’s true that from daily usage such as gaming etc., users really can’t tell much about the performance difference because processors nowadays are far from fast nowadays and there are no applications that take advantage of the speed unless there are more power consuming applications in the future, only then you can tell which processor is faster or so.
For me I would just compare which is more energy efficient or performance per watt.
My Intel VS AMD mini comparison:
1. Intel has less Front-side bus speed than AMD but has more cache size than AMD.
2. Intel is more energy efficient than AMD due to the 45nm manufacturing process on their latest processor(Penryn) while AMD has started 65nm on their latest processor(Barcelona).
October 20th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Well your comparison is not wrong, just that it shouldn’t be done on INTEL vs AMD but should be a particular processor vs another processor.
For example, Intel’s Pentium Dual-Core range has only 1MB L2 Cache but the Intel Core2Duo E4xxx series has 2MB L2 Cache. On the other hand AMD has generally bigger L1 Cache.
In short – to suummarize Intel vs AMD like that wouldn’t be fair.
October 27th, 2007 at 1:21 am
You r right.. but I would say that compare the price of a AMD processor vs another Intel processor in the same price range would give you a more appropriate choice.
In other words, buy the processor that fits your budget the most, either one of them is a good brand and the performance will not go by far although Intels are in no doubt a lil better than AMDs.
October 27th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
The thing I like about AMD setup is that good motherboards aren’t expensive, allowing you more leftover $$$ to acquire a better processor.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
AMD processors all the way for me.. from 486 to my AMD AM2 3800+… alot of ppl asked me y i prefer the “hot n unstable” processor… my reply oways worked… “prove to me now the amd processor is hot n unstable”
September 10th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Why did Phenom need liquid nitrogen just to breach the 4ghz barrier?
October 29th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Because it was “hot n unstable” on air
November 11th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Phenom is also different. Reaching 4Ghz on AMD processor is different to that of Intel as they’re architecturally different. You’ll see a lot of Intel processors reach 4Ghz+++ pretty easily.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:01 pm
17 computer notebook cases…
I enjoy reading your blog. I will surely pop by again….
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
hai, thanks for the information, especially when it come to price in ringgit malaysia. i like to read your articles.. I’m now decide to buy amd 64 x2 …cos i wanna build my 1st pc with low budget but want play decent 3d gaming like crysis… AA is not consider because i d finish crysis with my laptop with medium setting…
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:18 am
Hey man, good article really. Sorry but I’m in a hurry and kinda malas wanna search for where to PM you. You might want to change the price list of your PC Guide cause there’re quite alotta differences from your price and the current price. *peace* (:
June 4th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
IMO it’s all down to
BUYERS BEWARE
buyers need to do their homework lah~
I used work in technical department of d-e-l-l, shhh
actually most of the units on sale didn’t get good reviews (or a green light as the matter of fact) from the technical review team, they’re being bulldozed onto the market thanks to sales/marketting team.
oh well, those department are the one generating visible income to the company anyway~
June 4th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
@iwan vga – no choice have to spend a bit, gaming is $$$.
@rationsauce – yup. I’ve been postponing the updates for quite a while.
prices have changed a lot, especially for graphic card.
@frostie – i bought lowest end Dell units before, so far ok – or was I lucky?
June 4th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
AFAIK for consumer/home user line of products, it’s like a dice roll
coporate/commercial line has more QC & testing done over it, hence the higher cost
btw adamo had a huge rejection from the internal tech review team,
still it made it onto the market. lol~ and some might wonder why…
June 8th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Have to trust you la since you say you work there before.
AFAIK they’ve not the best products but support is generally known to be good.
July 12th, 2009 at 1:13 am
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