Intel vs. AMD:
Questions asked?.. . questions answered.. .

The matchups:
The setup for this one is fairly simple. We're directly comparing processors from Intel at AMD at a range of price points. Intel has had a lock on the overall performance lead since the Core 2 Duo first hit the scene, but AMD has made clear its intention to maintain a competitive price-performance ratio. To do so, AMD will have to meet or beat each of the processors in Intel's current desktop lineup, which looks like so:

Model Clock speed Cores L2 cache (total)

Core 2 Duo E6300 1.83GHz 2 2MB
Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz 2 2MB
Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz 2 4MB
Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz 2 4MB
Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz 2 4MB
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 4 8MB
Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.66GHz 4 8MB

Intel does offer lower cost options like the Core 2 Duo E4300 and its Celeron value-oriented processors, but our list includes the meat of the lineup.

AMD, on the other hand, offers a dizzying array of Athlon 64 X2 models, from 3600+ to 6000+, generally in increments of 200 (or is it 200+?). Not only that, but AMD often sells multiple products under the same performance-related model number, just to keep smug members of the general public from becoming overconfident. For instance, the Athlon 64 X2 4400+ comes in a 90nm "Toledo" flavor that runs at 2.2GHz, has 1MB of L2 cache per core, and is intended for Socket 939 motherboards. The X2 4400+ also comes in the form of a 65nm chip code-named "Brisbane" that runs at 2.3GHz, has 512K of L2 per core, and slips into Socket AM2 mobos. Several of these features—fab process, clock frequency, cache size, and socket/memory type—may vary within the same model number.

With that said, we've chosen the following members of the Athlon 64 lineup as the most direct competitors to their Core 2 counterparts. Because we live in the now, all of these are newer-style Socket AM2 processors:

Model Clock speed Cores L2 cache (total)

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.3GHz 2 1MB
Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz 2 1MB
Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8GHz 2 2MB
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz 2 2MB
Athlon 64 FX-70 2.6GHz 4 4MB
Athlon 64 FX-72 2.8GHz 4 4MB
Athlon 64 FX-74 3.0GHz 4 4MB

As you can see, AMD has a fairly direct answer for most members of the Core 2 range. Things start to get shaky at the high end, where the Athlon 64's lower performance takes its toll. The Athlon 64 X2 6000+ sells at a discount versus the Core 2 Duo E6700, and AMD has no answer to the Core 2 Extreme X6800, Intel's fastest dual-core processor.

INTEL OR AMD?