Deciding Which Processor is Best

[seekinganswers]

I'm trying to decide what type of computer to buy and I am seeking knoweldge on processors.
I'm looking at a Dell with a processor of 1.8 GHZ Intel 3rd generation and a HP with a processor 2.0 GHZ AMD A6 series. What is the difference?

 

[AshyCFC]

Which A6 and which intel processor? do you know the exact name?

 

[UncreativeName]

Since theres not much info on the processors I can't give you much help. Are the PC's your looking at desktops or laptops? I'm guessing the AMD processor will have slightly higher performance but not sure. Do you know the full name of these processors?

 

[lmaonade200]

judging by the clock rates these are laptop CPUs.

anyways, the first difference is the clock rate, AMD runs at 2.0Ghz, 200Mhz faster than the Intel processor, which means it runs more cycles per second than the Intel processor can.

But it doesn't necessarily mean it's stronger, another big factor is IPC, or instructions per cycle, how many instructions a processor can run in a cycle (the cpu then runs however many cycles a second through its clock rate). Then there are instruction sets that are related to software and other hardware interactions which I won't get into.

generally, Intel processors of the same generation/release date/time period as an AMD processor will have strong IPC than the AMD processor. For example, an i5 3570 is clocked at 3.4Ghz, while the FX 8350 is clocked at 4.0Ghz, but when comparing core to core, the i5 trumps the fx by a lot. It's the nature of the way the chips are built.

it's the same concept for comparing laptop processors too. However your question is VERY open ended and can have a million different answers. If you're comparing say an Intel Celeron processor to an AMD A6, the A6 will win hands down because the microarchitecture of a Celeron processor is not designed to be high performance, so it'll lose in performance.

However, some of the higher end laptop processors like i5's and i7's often win against the AMD laptop APUs because of superior microarchitecture.

 

[UncreativeName]

When looking into it, it seems the AMD has better multi threading, so that may be the better choice. I think all in all they will perform very similar.

 

[CTurbo]

We need way more information. I will tell you that the Intel @ 1.8ghz will be much much faster than the AMD @ 2.0ghz. The AMD will have much better graphics though.

 

[Beezy]

judging by the clock rates these are laptop CPUs.

anyways, the first difference is the clock rate, AMD runs at 2.0Ghz, 200Mhz faster than the Intel processor, which means it runs more cycles per second than the Intel processor can.

But it doesn't necessarily mean it's stronger, another big factor is IPC, or instructions per cycle, how many instructions a processor can run in a cycle (the cpu then runs however many cycles a second through its clock rate). Then there are instruction sets that are related to software and other hardware interactions which I won't get into.

generally, Intel processors of the same generation/release date/time period as an AMD processor will have strong IPC than the AMD processor. For example, an i5 3570 is clocked at 3.4Ghz, while the FX 8350 is clocked at 4.0Ghz, but when comparing core to core, the i5 trumps the fx by a lot. It's the nature of the way the chips are built.

it's the same concept for comparing laptop processors too. However your question is VERY open ended and can have a million different answers. If you're comparing say an Intel Celeron processor to an AMD A6, the A6 will win hands down because the microarchitecture of a Celeron processor is not designed to be high performance, so it'll lose in performance.

However, some of the higher end laptop processors like i5's and i7's often win against the AMD laptop APUs because of superior microarchitecture.

this is all really well put, another thing to note is that the A6 will probably have much better integrated graphics, that will allow you to game, vs the intel. intel generally has much much weaker graphics options built in, but a much stronger processor than the AMD. so it depends on your needs really.

 

[Beezy]

We need way more information. I will tell you that the Intel @ 1.8ghz will be much much faster than the AMD @ 2.0ghz. The AMD will have much better graphics though.

ahh he beat me to it