Which is better, an AMD Athlon XP or a Pentium 4?
Athlons and Pentiums are like apples and oranges, and there have been many Holy Wars started over this question. AMD has historically been more efficient; they get more done per clock cycle than any Intel chip which lets an Athlon XP outperform a higher clockspeed Pentium 4 in some circumstances. They also have the advantage of price. Pentium 4 has the advantages of sheer clockspeed and memory bandwidth (due to higher bus speeds). Certain tasks are performed faster by a Pentium 4 than an Athlon XP, but not all. Additionally, there are more motherbaords to choose from. Unfortunately, the cost/performance ratio is worse than an Athlon XP. Personally, I prefer the Athlons as I value bang-for-the-buck over all-out speed.
