Square pegs, round pegs, triangular pegs, oh my!

[Alexander Nicholi]

As we all know, two of the main processor manufacturers for modern personal computers are Intel and AMD. Along with that there's the line of ARM processors that are used for smaller devices such as handheld game consoles and phones. Between the first two, which do you prefer, if you have a preference? What are some of your preferred processor lines/socket types?

Do you absolutely hate Intel/AMD, or simply don't care? Do you even pay attention to raw clock speed? What are your experiences with some processors?

This basically serves as a general discussion thread regarding processors, and aims to include all aspects of the brains of a computer.

 

[Burakki Tsuki]

I have always went with Intel. I love Intel and Nvidia combination and will continue this trend. I know people who have AMD and I have had AMD in a laptop before but try to avoid it. Budget wise they are great for most people, but I've simply preferred Intel for about 10 years now that I have been building computers. Also I no longer have any interest in overclocking like I did when I was younger. Things are so fast now I never have any issues producing music, editing images or gaming. I'm not one of those people who glamorize 3Dmark and such tests.

Recently I have noticed ATI having some excellent cards that make me second guess Nvidia sometimes.

 

[Kakarot1212]

I prefer Intel than AMD, for one reason, INTEL IS ON THE TOP. And as far as I know, AMD focuses on mobile space rather than on computer space.

If you're after performance above else
(and you can afford the price tag) then
Intel processors are generally a good
choice. AMD chips are generally priced much
lower, which means you can
sometimes get extra cores for less
money. Also AMD has been
trailing behind Intel for some time
now, especially when it comes to
desktop performance. In other words, they are "NO MATCH" compared to Intel.

 

[donavannj]

I may sound like an AMD fanboy with this statement, but I'm going to buy AMD in my personal custom builds whenever possible since I do not want to see a monopoly by Intel in this field. Competition is healthy for consumers. I also generally get more bang for my buck with AMD than with Intel, and with AMD boards being dramatically cheaper, I can also assemble a PC for dramatically less while still having comparable power to someone who spent a couple hundred more than me. I most certainly pay some attention to clock speed, but that's because a lot of my games need higher clock speeds per core than most modern games since they only are capable of handling a single CPU.

Also, AMD's onboard graphic chipsets are nothing to sneeze at.

 

[New Eden]

Over the past five years I've used four different systems...four of which were AMD. I had been incredibly satisfied with what I've got from their processor lines. In most applications, it seemed that my FX-6300 was actually on par with my present 4670k, which I largely got because I found one pretty cheap. However, Intel has much higher per-core performance than AMD ever will, so for games AMD gets obliterated (but I can't really see above 60fps anyway.) It does give an extra shove in Dolphin though. I do feel rather concerned over would happen if AMD were to go under, for Intel would have all the control in the world when it comes to consumer desktops/laptops.