Some AMD questions

[Envergure]

I've never owned an AMD-based comp before, now I'm thinking about getting one.

1) Is an Intel chip actually any faster than an AMD chip with the same clock speed and # of cores? (Does AMD have anything analogous to Intel's Hyper-Threading technology?)

2) Do AMD's CPUs use the same architecture and instruction set as Intel's (x86-64)?

 

[Justin]

I've never owned an AMD-based comp before, now I'm thinking about getting one.

1) Is an Intel chip actually any faster than an AMD chip with the same clock speed and # of cores? (Does AMD have anything analogous to Intel's Hyper-Threading technology?)

2) Do AMD's CPUs use the same architecture and instruction set as Intel's (x86-64)?

1) Depends entirely on context, workload and processor architecture. The Core 2 architecture, clock for clock, outperforms the majority of AMD's processors. Only the Phenom comes close, but the price point makes a Phenom pointless to buy. The X2 series will give you an amazing price point. Core 2 will give you better performance. If you are looking specifically for the "absolute fastest", you will want to use an Intel CPU, not an AMD CPU, at this present time.

1b) In practice, Hyper-Threading offers very little of value to the majority of people. It won't make games run faster, I've never had it make a desktop feel snappier and when dealing with heavy loads such as video encoding it offers no tangible benefit either

2) No. In actuality, AMD's revision of 64-bit x86 extensions were cloned by Intel to use in Intel processors. Intel chose to use AMD's technology over expanding their existing 64-bit technology which was not x86 compatible. Though they are compatible with one another in terms of software, they are not explicitly the same.

For the record, AMD designed x86-64, not Intel.

 

[Rick]

1) Is an Intel chip actually any faster than an AMD chip with the same clock speed and # of cores? (Does AMD have anything analogous to Intel's Hyper-Threading technology?)

I agree with what Soul said 120%, but I'd like to add that "Hyperthreading" has been dead for years (died off with the P4 line). It will be making a comeback though, supposedly, in the next year or two.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

As for the first question yes, any current-gen Intel chip outperforms all competing AMD chips, while running cooler and consuming less power as well.

Also, Intel's upcoming Nehalem microarchitecture features HyperThreading, this time with multiple cores.