PLEASE READ ME IF YOU ARE DECIDING BETWEEN INTEL AND AMD!!!
Jul 13 '00
Sorry for all the yelling but I really wanted to get heard. I thought about writing this article in the processor section of epinions but then realized that most people are buying their computers as sets instead of separate components. And the fact that if they were buying their processors in separates (if they were in the processor section) then they would know the main differences anyway and wouldn't need to read this. So please please please if you are going to buy your computer from best buy or from circuit city like places read this first. Also, for computer reviews in general, please read the more recent reviews which are not the ones that get placed first. Do a little digging to get the more recent advice since we all know that computer junk becomes real junk in just a few years.
Ok so you want to know what the big difference is between the AMD processors and the Intel processors. I have always been partial to Intel for the majority of my life. Quite frankly they were the best processors on the market and AMD was just a low-end cheap man’s celeron. But my happy Intel world has shifted.
One main thing to realize is THE ATHLON IS NOT A LOW END PROCESSOR! A lot of people think this because it’s an AMD and at first all the AMD really made was the K6’s, and those were low end. In fact if you were deciding between a K6 and a celeron I would go with the celeron still because they are better processors than the K6’s. Please don’t get the K6’s confused with the brand spanking new Duron. The Duron is all the low-end buyer’s dream come true. You would be very foolish to buy a celeron over a Duron, but that’s a whole different epinion on its own.
But the Athlon is a up to the level and many times better than the Intel PIII coppermine. If you have read any major computer magazine or anything on processors in the past three months you will know that AMD has made giant leaps in the race to be the best processor. And many times AMD has come out triumphant.
Why? That’s what I said as I sat there in disbelief. With all that Intel had going for it in the R & D department how did this little low-end driven processor beat out Intel! I had so much hope on Intel that I bet twenty dollars that they would be the first to come out with the gigahertz. And I was pretty sure that I would win. Then out of no where comes AMD with a great 1.0 gigahertz and blows everyone away.
Now why buy the AMD. Here’s the most important reason: price. The AMD processor is better than the Intel PIII with regular SDRAM (not rambus RAM or RDRAM I’ll explain the difference later). You cannot beat that argument. Intel is charging a lot more for the PIII gig than AMD does for its Atlon or even its brand spanking new Thunderbird. On cnet right now (7/13/00) the Intel PIII 800 mg is $356 vs AMD’s Athlon 800 mg at $230. That a huge difference. Now why does Intel do this? For one main reason: name recognition. That is the only reasoning to why Intel can charge so much more for a processor that is up to par or worse than the Athlon. And don’t feel bad if you look down on AMD when you go to compusa, I used to do the same. But reading up on processors can be very beneficial especially if you’re going to buy a new computer and the only difference between the two is the processor brand and a couple hundred dollars.
Now you may be saying: I read those articles on Intel vs AMD and Intel always won. First off, they are all very close. But if you read carefully you will notice that Intel always uses Rambus RAM. Now you may be thinking there’s nothing wrong with using RAM that’s designed for that processor, which is true I totally agree, but if you are paying big bucks (and I really mean big bucks) to get a computer that has a PIII because it has RDRAM, I’ll tell you why. The Intel processor alone is way more than the AMD, add on a few megs of RDRAM and you’re in a whole new ballgame. RDRAM is so incredibly expensive compared to regular SDRAM (that you can put in most computers). 128 mg of kingston RDRAM is 530 dollars. Just for RAM now. While for regular SDRAM from kingston 128 megs goes for 140 dollars. That’s a pretty big difference if you ask me. So next time you look on the charts for an AMD vs Intel look at the type of RAM that the two of them are using. This is the computer that you are going to use not the richest man in the world. Realize what you need and get what you think is best for you. A lot of times the AMD Athlon comes out on top of the Intel PIII even with its RDRAM. So I guess what I’m saying here is to please think a little harder on what you really want. These things are getting really expensive and I think that if I were to pay this much money I want the best that I can get. Ok that’s my $0.02.
If you want to read up on the processors yourself then I highly suggest www.tomshardware.com or www.anandtech.com. Here's anandtech's charts on the two processors:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1252&p=12
and here's tom's hardware's:
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q2/000605/t-bird-08.html
Please read the articles as well.
If you would like to know more indepth reasoning to the differences between the Athlon and the PIII please comment that you would like an artice written. Or if you just want to read what tom's hardware and anand have to say that would be a good move as well.
Thanks for reading!
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