Relative Comparison

[akinlolu olugboji]

How to you compare Intel and AMD processors. i3, i5 and i7 I know but when it comes the AMD I sometimes have to go by prices and that never cuts it as other factor are involve and even among brands same processor rating comes in various prices. 

[akinlolu olugboji]

Here is a good eample!

Which has a more powerful processor the AMD Six Core or the Intel Core i5?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

For nXt, use clockSpeed X nPhysicalCPUs as a decent rule of thumb performance index.  The hyperthreading used by the new Intel CPUs will make them perform a little better (~10%) than this index would indicate.

Performance of other applications may be very different.

[akinlolu olugboji]

So the AMD will be 6 x 2.7 = 16.2, will the i5 will be 4 x 3.4 = 13.6. So the winner here is the AMD right?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

The rule of thumb tells you the two machines will be very close with regard to nXt performance, especially when you take into account the hyperthreading bonus for the i5.  I would choose between these two systems based on other factors.  

For example, the i5 will almost certainly be faster for other software, including AutoCAD.  The AMD machine, on the other hand, could be cheaper.

[akinlolu olugboji]

Thanks will put that in consideration ie the hyperthreading 

[George Ioannidis]

Nice site with CPU benchmarks comparison:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/42

Chose two CPUs to see the overall performance. There is also multithreaded rendering benchmarks - Cinema, 3DSMax etc.

[Ian Foster Griffith]

My two cents.....

AMD for workstation computers        -           Intel for renderfarm computers

Also costing on top shelf i7's big question on your bang for your buck vs top AMD.

I also find AMD can be hard on RAM chips, have had a lot burn out.