Comparing AMD and Intel Core 2 Duo Processors
Both AMD and Intel sell a line of dual core processors. Competition in the technology market is stiff and AMD began its marketing campaign for its line of dual core processors by taking out a full page advertisement in several national newspapers challenging Intel to a head-to-head dual core processor challenge. Intel declined, but that doesn't mean you can't stack the two processors up against each other and see which reigns supreme.
Identification
A dual core processor is a CPU with two independent cores. A dual core processor can juggle incoming data streams more effectively than a traditional single core CPU. A dual core processor can also be attached to an existing motherboard, as long as the motherboard has the correct socket. Both AMD and Intel have a line of 64-bit dual core processors. Dual core processors are not the same as multi-core processors. Multi-core processors are faster and more efficient than dual core processors, just as dual core processors achieve better performance than single core processors.
AMD vs. Intel Dual Core in Everyday Computing
In any comparison of different dual core processors, benchmarking each processor's speed when handling day-to-day computing tasks such as word processing is just as important as evaluating how fast these processors can handle advanced multimedia and multi-tasking. Computing website CNET compared AMD's line of five dual core processors (the AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 4200+, 4400+, 4600+ and 4800+) against Intel's four dual core processors (the Intel Pentium D 820, 830, 840 and the Extreme Edition 840). When it came to handling office applications, two of AMD's dual core processors topped the list. AMD's lower budget dual cores also triumphed over their Intel counterparts.
Gaming
CNET also compared how well AMD and Intel dual cores handled computer games. To do this, the website created a special demo of the game Half Life 2 with the 3-D features scaled down, requiring the dual core processors to carry most of the processing weight, and then measured the frame rate of the game on each processor. The results were surprising. Intel's line of dual cores performed very poorly, with its highest-end processor, the Extreme Edition 840, losing out to AMD's cheapest low-end option, the Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
AMD vs. Intel in Multitasking
AMD's line of dual cores also perform markedly better than Intel's when it comes to running two tasks that require heavy processing simultaneously. To test multitasking, computing website CNET had both lines of processors run McAfee virus scanning on 40 gigabytes of files and encode an 85-megabyte video file at the same time. AMD's processors took the top three spots. Intel's highest-end model, the Extreme Edition 840, achieved fourth place, but completed the tasks only four seconds faster than an AMD dual core processor, which is half the price.
Other Tasks
CNET's comparison tested AMD and Intel dual core processors on a variety of other tasks, including photo editing, MP3 encoding and video encoding. Every time, AMD products beat out Intel processors. In the end, AMD's lower-end products routinely outperform both their Intel counterparts and Intel high-end products that cost significantly more. When it comes to not only pure performance, but also price versus performance, AMD's line of dual core processors are the best bet for anyone looking for an extra jolt of computing power.
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