Intell Pentium, Xeon, Centrino...Athlon?
918226
take out the sempron and celeron then flip a coin
91489
It becomes increasingly more difficult to compete when what you’re up against is cheaper, faster and being touted by most of the press as the only solution that makes sense.  On the flip side of the coin, things can get pretty tough when your chief competitor has the marketing muscle, dollars and trust in their brand name to convince over 70% of the market that they are still the right choice.\n\nThis is the predicament that both AMD and Intel happen to find themselves in.  They each have a different set of issues to deal with and in a sense, are both fighting an uphill battle for control in the x86 microprocessor space.  \n\nAMD’s solution is one that has been promising since it’s introduction.  The Athlon processor not only outperforms everything Intel can offer in almost all situations, but the Athlon is also selling for extremely low prices.  The flagship Athlon 1.4GHz processor can be found for under $180 while Intel’s Pentium 4 1.7GHz processor will set you back over $300.  The only problem AMD has really had with acceptance of their Athlon processor is platform reliability and it appears as if NVIDIA may be the one to solve that issue very soon.  \n\nThe Pentium 4 processor has been Intel’s answer to the very successful Athlon.  Although capable to run at very high clock speeds, the processor’s NetBurst architecture has not even been slightly tapped by currently available clock frequencies.  The unfortunate result of this is that the real world performance of today’s Pentium 4 systems is below that of what AMD can offer.  When you combine lower performance with a higher price, you can easily see why AMD has picked up a lot of market share recently.
1073775
The AMD Athlon is better for gaming..and the Intel Pentium is better for multi-tasking stuff..so its up to you..go by what you plan to do the most with your computer
593211
I'm not an expert. but Dual core processers are fairly new: AMD ATLON 64 X2, and also the PENTIUM D from INTEL. They are 2 processing cores on 1 cpu chip.
590601
1.8 is pretty fast.  That's about a 3.0 on an Intel chip.  Intel chips inflate their frequencies quite a bit.  However, a 1.8 centrino for example will perform like a 4.0 pentium if not better.
901039
the processor is decent; if it's a socket 462 motherboard then the Althon 64 is out of the question being the only other alternative a Athlon XP. On the other hand if you have a socket 754 or AM2 go with the Athlon 64 or E6+ Sempron. the sempron comes in models for 462, 754, & AM2 (939alt) motherboards. check if the 2600+ cpu is a E6 (stepping/part no...BX) since the sempron E6+ support SSE3 & AMD64 extentions. If it's a cpu for a socket 462 only SSE1 is supported or if it's a cpu for AM2 they all support SSE3 & AMD64 Extentions.
54296
Intel's next-generation desktop platform, based on the Intel® NetBurst™ architecture and code-named Prescott, illustrates how Intel is extending Moore's Law, overcoming challenges in process technology, circuitry, and microarchitecture design, to continue gains in performance, frequency scaling, and efficiency.\n\nPrescott is slated to be one of the first high-volume chips to be made using Intel's 90-nanometer process and incorporating Intel's Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology. \n\nget more at http://www.intel.com/technology/computing/mi02031.htm
874994
Here are the fastest processors available, from fastest to slowest: Core 2 Duo, Athlon 64 X2's, Athlon 64's, Pentium D's, AMD Semprons, and last, and least, the Celerons.
780832
I depends on what you want. personally i prefer AMD X2's but that will soon change to AMD 4x4 and 8x8. Core 2 Duo's are ok, but i dont like intel. thats personal preference i guess. really the best chip in theroy is the quad core intel. notice i said in theory. IT;s slightly buggy in real life. dual core Xenons are good too and will give u a server pretty much. also remember that a processor can only be as good as the rest of the computer lets it be. if you only have 256mb of ram, no matter how fast the processor, your performance is gonna be terrible.
285203
If you do a search on AMD Athlon Motherbord you will get a huge selection of sites offering, or you can go to tigerdirect or newegg. this is a link to each :\nhttp://www.newegg.com/index.asp?refer=Overtur3&CMP=KNC-0vertur3&ATT=newegg\nhttp://www.tigerdirect.com/\neither of those should have an available selection of Motherboards that support the Athlon, you will need to know the speed of your processor in order to order a board that supports it.
25937
Pretty good reviews for it here:\nhttp://reviews-zdnet.com.com/HP_Pavilion_a1250n_Athlon_64_X2_2_GHz/4505-3118_16-31533898.html
319652
Both Intel and AMD have their plus points. Intel was the pioneer and so has the largest mind share.\n\nAMD has some pioneering work too to its credit. AMD came up with the 64 bit processor earlier than the INTEL range. The range that you have as the popular ones is PENTIUM in the Intel series and the Athlons in AMD. Pentium continues to be the 32 bit processor but Athlons have 64 bit processors.\n\nCost wise AMD has less price while Intel commands a premium. Don't be swayed by the numbers like 3400. You need to read fine prints of each process to know of it.\n\nHowever the 64 bit component of AMD is not very much to use right now as we are still in the 32 bit OS in the normal segment of desktops.\n\nGraphically they both lead into their own forte but AMD scores there due to its 64 bit.\n\nSo as someone said.... its dependent on your budget, your application and then future roadmap\n\nHappy selecting your processor
10933
The 2.0 Ghz Celeron process was released around the same time as the Pentium 4.  So you can sort of say they are the same class.
40650
Definitely the Athlon 64x2.  It's the best processor on the market and completely thrashes Intel in any benchmark test.  Any amount of memory over 2GB is purely academic but you could always upgrade your motherboard and processor at a later time if you really wanted to get more memory.  If you are looking for proof (though I am sure you have done your homework), http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/21/the_mother_of_all_cpu_charts_2005/page24.html but most of the ones at the top are single core Athlon 64 chips and the Pentium 4 is nowhere to be seen.  That being said there weren't many multithreaded applications for the dual core chips to take advantage of.  Once games and applications are enabled to take advantage of two core chips the x2's will be riding high at the very top.  Intel, you suck!
163526
I am currently putting my new system together.  I settled on the AMD64 X2 because I could take advantage of a dual core processor ( I use linux exlusively). I haven't looked at the pentium D so I could not comment or make a comparison.  I have built a few AMD's and a few pentium 4's .  I find the AMD 64's  more responsive and a better bang for the buck.
118900
Stay away from the cheapest ones (PC Chips, etc) I have a fondness for Intel chipsets because I run Intel chips. GigaByte, Intel, and MSI all make good IntelCPU boards and I have personal good experience with them. For AMD CPUs I'd stick with Asus or MSI although I have heard good things about DFI LanParty boards
138011
You know this topic is too extensive to cover here. \n\nThere is some good reference material covering both types of processors here: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/r_harvey/doc_cpu.htm \n\nIn Pentium class processors, there also model-specific registers  http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/r_harvey/doc_cpu.htm