theorys on amd vs intel

[jameswilson]

I have no experience of the new intel dual core stuff, but whats the general feeling on intel or amd in your zm server.
I have compared a 3400 sempron to a 3.2 gig p4 and with HT on the p4 is faster and a lot more money. I have compared a 4200 x2 to a 3.4 gig p4 and the amd is quicker but im not sure about the new intel stuff? Any comments

[Ruler]

I remember hearing the AMD vs Intel battle as being characterized as two people in a sinking boat. On is baling water with a drinking cup at 50 cups per minute. Another is baling water with a bucket at 10 buckets per minute. Even though the guy with the bucket is baling a lot slower than the guy with the cup, he's moving more water. Basically, the AMD has more horsepower per cycle than the intel. The intel goes fast, but doesn't do a whole heck of a lot in a cycle. (Redline a mazda vs a ferrari and compare horsepower.)

I've found that AMDs beat intel chips for both price and performance. I remember an experiment done (I *think* by toms hardware guide) a year or two ago where they rigged up liquid nitrogen cooling and overclocked a P4 to over 5 ghtz and benchmarked it against the new AMD chip not yet released at the time running at 1/2 the clock speed. The intel chip didn't even match the AMD chip! The site yanked the report later on the day it was published; rumor was that intel was a major sponsor and threatened to pull their sponsorship.

I haven't kept up on the technical details, but I believe the sempron chip isn't a good selection for your AMD comparisons. I could be full of it, but I think I remember hearing it's a budget chip made for inexpensive machines. I'd pick a barton or thoroughbred core instead.