Intel vs AMD

Discussion in 'hardware' started by JerryM, Aug 28, 2010.

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  1. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

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    I thought I had posted this, but if so I cannot find it.

    I notice than AMD processors are less expensive than Intel. For a laptop I am wondering if the Intel processors are better and worth the difference? I don't know anyone personally who owns a computer with AMD.

    Any experience or adviceo_O?

    Thanks,
    Jerry
     
  2. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    I'm an AMD person so my opinion is somewhat biased, but AMD chips are generally far more energy efficient if you were looking for prolonged battery life, but some Intel chips can be more powerful if that's what you're looking for. So you've got a choice. :)
     
  3. linuxforall

    linuxforall Registered Member

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    In terms of speed, nothing comes close to Intel, for laptops even the lowly i3 and i5 ~ Snipped as per TOS ~, the i7 competes with the best desktops.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 28, 2010
  4. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

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    Intel CPUs are superior, if you plan to utilize CPU at max like create a graphic or compress movies, but for a common usage like games, movies, AMD is as good as Intel for a half price. For notebook, it depends, what type do you plan to buy. There are old CPUs, which takes more energy than new (20-40W), that applies to both brands, allways check specifications. Ussually Intel notebooks are cooler and battery last longer, but they are not very suitable for games, AMD/ATI is better for it, but it produces more heat.
     
  5. PJC

    PJC Very Frequent Poster

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    Intel -vs- AMD

    - For the Average Home Users, AMD offers the Best-Value-for Money.
    - Gamers love the AMD/ATI combination.
    - For specialized Tasks (e.g. Sound and Movie/Image Editing), Intel is more preferable.
    - As far as Laptops, Intel rules over AMD.
     
  6. mack_guy911

    mack_guy911 Registered Member

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    Re: Intel -vs- AMD


    nothing left to said mr pc said every thing intel is better for laptop good heat sinks produce less heat intel

    :thumb:
     
  7. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

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    Thanks, All for the comments. They are very helpful. I am going to go with Intel.
    Regards,
    Jerry
     
  8. Noob

    Noob Registered Member

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    Intel are a lot better OC'ers too :D
     
  9. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

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    Open Carry??
    Regards,
    Jerry
     
  10. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Overclockers.

    I don't see how Intels can logically "produce less heat". AMD's use less power, run at a lower wattage and temperature statistically, and in most cases are a lower clock rate than Intels. On top of that, AMD's "Cool n' Quiet" is far superior to Intel's alternatives, which smartly adjusts the clock value of your CPU on-the-fly according to usage.

    The heatsink has nothing to do with the chip, you can get good ones for both chip manufacturers.
     
  11. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

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    Thanks.
    Jerry
     
  12. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    Not true.

    And again not true.

    Years ago, AMD surpassed Intel in all those categories, which embarrassed Intel greatly. Remember, AMD was created to make Intel CPUs so IBM could have a 2nd source. And Intel was further shamed by AMD's continued lead which lasted for years - until a couple years ago when Intel finally leapfrogged pass AMD with the Core 2 Duos. Vowing to never be spanked like that again, Intel has continued to increase their lead.

    So now, and there are exceptions, of course, but since the Core 2 Duos, when looking at the entire line Intel CPUs consume less power, generate less heat, and offer better performance. So AMD has had little recourse but to compete on price and they do that very well. As seen recently by yet another cut for 20 or their CPUs.

    Bottom line: Both makers produce excellent, reliable CPUs. And regardless the primary task of the computer, you can find an excellent CPU for that task.
     
  13. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    So you're telling me that although AMD's have chips that are more efficient than Intel's, but on average, there are more Intel's chips that are more power efficient than AMD chips?

    That may be true since you're taking old chips into account, but I am comparing the 2 companies latest products, for example, the i7 and the phenom, as you can see here.

    AMDx4@3.4Ghz = 125W
    Intel i7@3.2Ghz = 130W

    You will see similar results on actual benchmark websites such as Guru3d showing how the latest AMD's (and even ATI's) are the way to go for energy efficiency.

    Also once again, the AMD has the advantage of the dynamic clocking functionality to further save power. For example, when doing simple web browsing my AMD sits at 800Mhz (the lowest clock value) without reaching maximum CPU usage.

    You seem like you know what you're taking about, so maybe you could provide us with some statistics on notebook processors (since that would add some actual meaning to this thread) as I could not find any.
     
  14. Noob

    Noob Registered Member

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    Intel chips most of time time are a LOT faster when compared clock to clock :rolleyes:
    Intel has Triple channel memory :)
     
  15. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    (1) I am talking CPUs currently in production and not 2 CPUs handpicked to make an [invalid] point and (2), you cannot use TDP as the determining factor. That value is the "maximum", and not average or what a user would see in real world use which is typically closer to idle consumptions.

    Note this recent PC World test with 4 current Intels and 4 current AMDs where in 3 out of 4 comparisons for both idle and full power consumption, Intel beat AMD. But power consumption is not the only criteria for determining which is better. There is also performance, which Intel has the edge, and heat generation, which again Intel has the edge.

    UNLESS you are talking bang for the money and in that area, AMD clearly dominates.

    But I reiterate - that does not mean or suggest that everyone should automatically pick one brand over the other. The CPU alone does not determine a computer's performance. In today's graphics oriented world, the graphics card plays a major, if not leading role. RAM plays a huge factor. And if RAM is limited, disk drive performance can make a significant difference.
     
  16. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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  17. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    Again, you hand pick 2 CPUs - not a whole line and you focus on one spec. Okay let's use your Guru3d reviews and see what they say and note the AMD review was 6 weeks after the Intel review.
    Okay, so with this AMD, it consumes less power and generates less heat. But it also is, according to your reviews, notably less powerful - whether content creation, video transcoding, 3D CPU rendering and object design, visualization, file compression/decompression even gaming, the Intel excels. So it seems to me, the 2 CPUs are not comparable - except for the number of cores.

    And in any case, these two CPUs do not represent the entire line in terms of consumption and heat. However, they do, in most, not all, but most cases, represent performance.

    AMDs biggest selling point is cost. And there is nothing wrong with that. It keeps the fire burning under Intel, and that keeps the desires burning at AMD. And that's nothing but good for consumers.
     
  18. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Bill, I never one mentioned AMD's were more powerful than Intels. It is a known fact that Intel have been ahead of AMD for quite a while now.

    But when it comes to energy efficiency, and ultimately heat distribution, AMD wins hands down.

    I ultimately agree with your conclusions, but again I ask you though, since this information is utterly useless to the OP, do you have any information about notebook processors?
     
  19. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    You know, notebooks are a tricky issue. If you listen to notebook marketing weenies, notebooks make wonderful desktop replacements and great gaming machines. I don't think notebooks are either. Their compact case just does not allow for proper cooling or cleaning.

    That said, notebook technologies are very motherboard dependent, and maker proprietary - with battery life part of the big picture.

    The Ultra Low Voltage packages from both makers are truly impressive. But then I do like my Toshiba with an i3 330. ;)
     
  20. iravgupta

    iravgupta Registered Member

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    Heat issues with AMD chips in notebooks occur when they use their integrated graphics, instead of going with a dedicated ATI card. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 is a victim.
     
  21. JRViejo

    JRViejo Super Moderator

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  22. sandeep

    sandeep Registered Member

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    When I saw Intel vs AMD I immediately knew this thread was going to turn in to one big debate on which is better.

    If you don't mind I would like to shed some light on this.

    Intel have been doing extremely well since the core2duo's, With the new released i series chips, Intel have again taken a further leap forward. Clock for clock intel is faster than AMD chips.

    But on the matter of heat.

    Taking a Intel Core i7 930 as an example, it is a 130w chip therefore using more power, than other chips, built on the same 45nm architecture as other chips and threshold of up to 67c. When an i7 is overclocked they heat up seriously, I have got an i7 build and you do need a good cooling system in order to keep it good on the heat.

    Taking another build I have, an AMD Phenom II 940, 125w, 45nm, and heat threshold of up to 60c, I have overclocked it 700Mhz higher than it's stock clock and have given it a fair bit of voltage and it sits right under 60c under full stress.

    As a note, both CPUs have the same heatsink and fan, and case for the matter.

    I'm not saying AMD is better than Intel, the i series chips can't really be compared to the AMD Phenom line yet as they are two different technologies. AMD have released the X6 chips with turbo boost, these still do not give as much heat as an i7 overclocked and provide very good performance.

    Either way, it's your own personal preference.

    As for a laptop, I would recommend Intel as certain AMD mobile processors are very slow, get an i3, i5 or i7 if you're going to get a laptop.
     
  23. iravgupta

    iravgupta Registered Member

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    There is one more reason to go for Intel for notebooks. Driver support. Intel updates and makes available drivers for SATA controllers, Integrated Graphics, WiFi etc frequently, unlike AMD which almost blocks out notebook users and makes them rely on OEMs.
     
  24. Sully

    Sully Registered Member

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    If I were buying a new laptop, I would spring for the one with the best battery life as verfied by some independent reviews. As Bill Bright says, all laptops are hot, and since it is heat that kills the transistors, all laptops IMO are vulnerable to some degree or another. They have a finite life because of the heat. Ones with big video cards are even worse becuase of how much more heat the video card gives off. You just can't vent those things properly.

    If I was considering a laptop from the perspective of which cpu to get, I would spring for the Intel ones. I have used all processors from both vendors. PIs and KIIs, 386/486, Athlons when they broke 1ghz barrier, Intel hyperthreading garbage. Athlon 64s were something else at the time. But, overall, as has been said, either one will do what you want. I would make my purchase built around the motherboard. Having had/built/maintained many computers, I believe Intel makes the best motherboards to couple with thier processors. Since Intel does not make mobos for AMD processors, this means the cpu choise is simple.

    Having been an AMD fan back when Intel products were much more expensive, I have nothing bad to say about them. They forced Intel to (for a while) drop thier prices. I bought nothing but AMD processors for a number of years. I used many big name mobos. Generally things went OK, but there were glitches too. The Intel boards I bought were generally lacking in BIOS features, but they have had a good track record for me to "just work". My time of tweaking the mobo to get 100% speed is long gone. Now I just want it to work and be stable. That is what I believe I am buying when I buy Intel motherboard and cpu combos. There can always be a bad apple in the bunch, but my personal history has shown me that my odds are significantly better with Intel.

    Since a laptop is much harder to replace/repair, I would choose what I felt would give me the best long-term stability and best battery life. That may well be an AMD, it is hard to know with laptops.

    Sul.
     
  25. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

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    I have pretty well settled on an ASUS with i3 processor, 4gb and W7 Home premium.
    I am watching for Fall sales.

    I am happy with my Toshiba except the battery life has always been very short. I don't think it ever lasted much over an hour, and now less than that. That is a primary reason for choosing ASUS. It has a good reputation for lack of repair and long battery life.

    I still keeping other options open, however.

    Regards and thanks,
    Jerry
     
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