A quick guide to PC processors.
There are only two makes of processor on the market but many versions. First and no doubt the best are Intel processors. The latest and best being their Core i7 but these don’t offer great value for money. At the moment their Core 2 Quad processors offer the best value for money and are recommended.
The second and less well known processors are AMD. These generally do less well in tests compared to Intel however they usally price their processors accordingly. Taking two exmaples: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 running at 2.33Ghz is priced on Eclipse Computers at £90.25. AMD’s Phenom 9950 running at 2.6Ghz is actually slower by a marginal amount but priced at only £84.99. Although Intel score better based on the clock rate, much lower pricing of the AMD processors mean you may be getting better speed per pound.
Generally as a rule it doesn’t matter too much which make of processor you buy. But always check whether they’re compatible with your motherboard and also we wouldn’t recommend buying the latest models as they tend to be vastly over-priced. The benchmark figures for the processors were taken from cpubenchmark.net and I recommend referencing this site when purchasing a new processor or computer.
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