Intel vs AMD Dual Core Chips

Originally Posted by Cless

You know, the cost argument in the Athlon 64 age is pretty fucking ridiculous. AMD's high-end chips cost just as much as Intel's. I'd say right now the situation looks more like:

AMD > Intel (on the desktop)
Intel > AMD (in the laptops)

And soon, with Conroe and Merom, Intel will be better on both fronts. Then AMD really will have to find a way to push prices down, because that'll be their only big selling point.

I'll mostly agree. Yes Intel's Core Duo is a better mobile chip. While AMD's chips are better at the same price point on the desktop than Intel's.

I disagree that the cost argument is ridiculous however. Yes the top end costs about the same, but that's not a 1:1 performance comparison. No matter how you do the math, the Athlon chips are better price/performance chips. The only area that Intel has a better price/performance ratio is with it's ultra low end Pentium D (805, 920), these are good value, but low power CPUs.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

1 Keeping it cooler will increase it's lifespan.

2 If you have other hot components in your machine it can actually be a problem with the higher end CPUs, the heat from all the other components overheats the CPU, and the CPU overheats the other components. Especially big concern with systems that have high end Pentium 4s and fanless GPUs etc. It's just not a balanced system and can smoke your GPU. Or if you have really hot GPU(s) they can overheat your CPU.

3 Overclocking is often in the back of reviewer's minds if not expressly mentioned. When overclocking CPUs it's always a good idea to have tons of cooling.

4 Some produce less noise as well, this is a concern for some.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Magic

When I was first building my computer I didn't even know CPU's came with fans.

When it comes to temperatures, how hot is too hot for a CPU? I don't really know how to gauge whether or not my fan is doing a decent job or not. I bought the Socket A version of one of these last year, but I had trouble installing it so I never got to find out if it was any better than what I've got now.

The safe temperatures a CPU can handle vary quite a lot by model. This .PDF has some information on what a Socket A CPU should run at http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...docs/23794.pdf

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.