They do the same thing. Don't let Mhz fool you. You just save when you buy an AMD... put that savings into a gfx card, I say. I've got an AMD 650 Classic. Will upgrade to an XP 100% sure of that.
The Pentium 4 is the first intel processor since the original pentium to introduce a totally new technology. It takes time for that technology to become superior.
Pentium 4's are more expensive, but in general more stable and can be overclocked to death. Many people were able to overclock their 2.0GHz northwood to 2.4GHz. Not to forget that the current Pentium 4's, with a few improvements, are able to run at 3.0GHz.
No wires crossed here. Athlon is much faster at same clock speed. Intel no longer holds the fastest design. Just fastest clock speed. If AMD released one at same clock speed, it would blow away the Pentium.
pentium 4 has new commands and structure and because noone is supporting it, its not doing well.
John Carmack lead programer @ id Software was quoted saying the p4 is excellent at running the q3 engine, but other than that its crap.
AMD have taken the lead for processors that are used for 3d and all things game realated
but they still need to be poked and prodded with garts and miniport agp drivers, mainboard chipset (ali/amd/via 4in1's)
whereas the pentiums (3 and 4) simply work out of the box.
in short.. if you are a gamer, AMD AthlonXP.
if you are running networks and programs that need balls or simply dont want to have to screw around to set it all up perfect..intel Pentium.
Intel has a mindshare in the server markets, and nothing more. There isn't any conclusive evidence that Athlon servers are less stable. Here's a short list of some large companies that are using AMD (or will be switching to AMD):
Mercedes-Benz
Electronic Arts
Ferrari
If Intel really provided more stable systems then none of the above comapnies would ever have thought of making the switch.
[This message has been edited by Stony (edited February 10, 2002).]
The main difference is the names
Personally I only buy Intel,the server and the three other PC`s in the house use Intel CPU`s...if AMD could produce a CPU that can do 4 or 8 way SMP then they would get more market share.