Is there a difference between AMD and Intel processors?
I am about to upgrade my dell machine and will getting a custom pc built soon.
There are two options that I see in my budget for the processor:
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition - Quad Core, AM2+/AM3, 3,4GHz, 8MB, Boxed
- Intel Core™ i5 Quad Processor i5-750 - 2,66GHz, Socket LGA1156, 8MB, Boxed m/fläkt
I will be using the PC for graphic editing, web design and some gaming. The OS I will be using is windows 7.
Which one is better for my purposes? and is there a difference between AMD and Intel, Will AMD support all of my drivers, programs etc?
Solution 1:
You haven't made any indication of the operating system, but the programs should be compatible if they are made for the OS. The 2 processors are identical except the AMD has a higher clock speed to start with. Although I'd still opt for the i5 due to it's turbo feature.
Some benchmarks here.
Solution 2:
I don't mean this sarcastically, but if you don't know the difference, you will probably never notice it. Compatibility is a non-issue.
According to reviews, the performance is very comparable between the two. Ignore answers about clock speed, it is not a relevant fact. You did mention graphic editing. In the linked benchmarks, the Intel i5 does noticeably better in that task.
Tech Report Benchmarks
Solution 3:
You (most likely) won't get compatibility issues with an AMD processor. As you can see, AMD provides a higher clock speed for the same or lower price.
An advantage of the Intel processor is that it supports Turbo Boost which will overclock the processor on the fly if only one or two cores are used.
Solution 4:
Interestingly , and granted this is an older AMD CPU (Athlon XP)than those mentioned, but some applications don't seem to like AMD comapared to Intel if they are particularly processer intensive. My PC will not run BOINC on 32 bit AMD, but an older P3 Intel is fine. Additionaly my work PC AMD X2 64 also does not like BOINC, wont even install it. So while in theory there should not be any noticeable different some CPU intensive applications written for/on Intel architecture may not work 100% correctly on AMD in a Windows operating system.