Choice of CPU Processor

At the time there are two main producers of computer processors on the market : AMD and Intel. AMD has several different types of processors. AMD Duron and AMD Athlon XP are not produced anymore. Duron has been replaced by the newer Sempron Processor and is excellent if you are going to use the computer for office work or Internet surfing. AMD Athlon 64 X2 is currently (January 2006) the most popular processor and is also the one that we recommend. The biggest advantage with AMD is the price. You will find that it is a lot cheaper and it can highly compete with the more expensive Pentium processors. It has also been proved in several benchmark/tests that this processor performs better in games. However, you should take into consideration that you need a powerful CPU fan because AMD processors generate more heat. A more powerful fan makes more noise. Read more about the AMD Athlon processors here.

Intel still has the Celeron processors and Pentium 4 processors. Celeron is the more cheaper and was developed to compete with the prices and performance AMD Sempron processors were providing. I would recommend that if you are considering Intel, buy the Pentium 4 processor. intel Pentium 4 is still the fastest processor and if price is not an option you should buy this one. Before you decide what to buy, we would advice you to do a little bit of research on the Internet and read about the processors.

If you are going to shop over the Internet you choose socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors and socket 775 for Pentium 4 processors. Be aware that the motherboard needs to be compatible with the processor. You cannot use an AMD Athlon processor with a socket 775 motherboard. If you are not sure about compatibility you can see a suggestion of components we have set up under PC 2006.

Note : You can compare an AMD Athlon 64 3000 with a Pentium 4 3,0 GzH with a margin of 10-15% in Pentium's favour.