Next you can find the main features of a microprocessor to be considered in order to choose the chip which matches better your needs.
Manufacturer
Currently there are two main manufacturers: Intel and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices). Intel processors were better until the appearance of the AMD Athlon in 2003. This AMD chip performs better than its competitor: Intel Pentium IV. But now Intel has recovered the leadership with his Intel Core 2 Duo. So there isn't a manufacturer absolutely better than the other one. For example, the better mainstream processor now is the Intel Core 2 Duo (two cores) or Intel Core 2 Quad (four cores).
But The Athlon 64 family had been superior to Intel's Pentium 4 or Pentium D offerings most of the time from the AMD64 launch in 2003 and Intel's introduction of the Core microarchitecture in 2006. While the Pentium 4 and Pentium D were aimed at reaching high clock speeds, their power requirements grew faster than the performance benefits.
As a consequence, AMD's approach of delivering more performance per clock was clearly more successful. Intel realized that a reasonable balance between processing cores and clock speed, based on the available manufacturing technologies, provides a much better path to more performance at reasonable power requirements. This eventually helped the company to get the crown back with Core 2 Duo.
Intel microprocessors
Technology
The main component of a microprocessor is the transistor. AMD phenom processor has more than 700 million of this semiconductor elements, most of them belonging to cache memory, so reducing the size of transistors the memory cache size can be increased. Nowadays Intel i7 processor technology is 45nm, where 45 nanometers is the length of a part of the transistor.
AMD processors
But The Athlon 64 family had been superior to Intel's Pentium 4 or Pentium D offerings most of the time from the AMD64 launch in 2003 and Intel's introduction of the Core microarchitecture in 2006. While the Pentium 4 and Pentium D were aimed at reaching high clock speeds, their power requirements grew faster than the performance benefits.
As a consequence, AMD's approach of delivering more performance per clock was clearly more successful. Intel realized that a reasonable balance between processing cores and clock speed, based on the available manufacturing technologies, provides a much better path to more performance at reasonable power requirements. This eventually helped the company to get the crown back with Core 2 Duo.
Intel microprocessorsTechnology
The main component of a microprocessor is the transistor. AMD phenom processor has more than 700 million of this semiconductor elements, most of them belonging to cache memory, so reducing the size of transistors the memory cache size can be increased. Nowadays Intel i7 processor technology is 45nm, where 45 nanometers is the length of a part of the transistor.
Architecture
When it's said that a processor has an architecture of 64 bits, then this processor can get 64 bits from the RAM memory simultaneously through the data bus. The more bits can get the processor simultaneously, the more fast can it work. Therefore a 64 bits processor with the suitable software can perform better than a 32 bits processor working at the same clock frequency. Another features concerning the architecture of a processor is whether it has memory cache and how much levels of this kind of memory it has,if it has also a memory controller included inside the processor and the number of cores it has.
Number of Cores
Until three years ago the microprocessors only had one core. The design and architecture of the chip was improved continuously (reducing voltage and transistors size and increasing memory cache size) so that the chip could work each time at a higher frequency and, this way, improve its performance.
But frequencies couldn't increase more without a big increase in power consumption and difficulties concerning power dissipation appeared (energy efficience). So manufacturers decided to decrease frequency of microprocessors and to use parallelism technology to keep improving perfomance of processors at lower frequencies. So manufacturers began to design chips with two o more processors inside, called cores.
AMD X2 3600 processor
But frequencies couldn't increase more without a big increase in power consumption and difficulties concerning power dissipation appeared (energy efficience). So manufacturers decided to decrease frequency of microprocessors and to use parallelism technology to keep improving perfomance of processors at lower frequencies. So manufacturers began to design chips with two o more processors inside, called cores.
AMD X2 3600 processorMemory Cache. Layers
The microprocessor process the data obtained from the memory much faster than the time needed for the memory and the Bus to supply the next data. So the processor is often idle waiting for more data and its performance get worse.
For this reason a small but incredibly fast memory is put inside the microprocessor. This memory is called Cache and it normally contains the data the processor needs more often. This way the processor doesn't remain idle too much time. Even more than one level of memory cache are put in the processor to improve its performance.
The processors which don't have memory cache are also cheaper because the processor is easier to manufacture. For example, Intel sells Pentium processor with the tag Celeron. The processors called Celeron have much less memory cache, so they perform worse but are cheaper.
The main reason of the performance of the Core 2 Duo processor is its large and shared level 2 memory cache for both cores.
For this reason a small but incredibly fast memory is put inside the microprocessor. This memory is called Cache and it normally contains the data the processor needs more often. This way the processor doesn't remain idle too much time. Even more than one level of memory cache are put in the processor to improve its performance.
The processors which don't have memory cache are also cheaper because the processor is easier to manufacture. For example, Intel sells Pentium processor with the tag Celeron. The processors called Celeron have much less memory cache, so they perform worse but are cheaper.
The main reason of the performance of the Core 2 Duo processor is its large and shared level 2 memory cache for both cores.
Frequency
The more high is the frequency, the more fast can work the processor. AMD processors always work at a lower frequency than Intel processors but some AMD chips can perform better because they can execute more instructions per clock cycle than Intel chips thanks to a more advanced architecture. Frequency is an important parameter to compare two processors provided they have a similar memory cache size and cores because a higher frequency can't compensate for a small memory cache. For example, a Pentium IV Celeron at 3.0 GHz performs worse than a Pentium IV 2.6 GHz.
Socket
In personal computers (PC), the microprocessor is inserted in a specific socket in a motherboard. The motherboard, through this socket, connects the microprocessor to the memory and to the peripherals. Through the peripherals, the processor can interact with the external world. Also in the motherboard some chips of RAM memory are inserted. The data between the RAM memory and the microprocessor is transferred by a bus, which is an electrical path between computer components.
Sockets Intel:
478 (Pentium IV and celeron)
LGA (Land Grid Array) 775 (from Pentium IV to Core 2 Duo)
Socket B (LGA 1366, incorporates the integrated memory controller and Intel QuickPath Interconnect)
Sockets AMD:
754 (Sempron i Athlon)
939 (Athlon 64 with dual channel)
AM2 (ATHLON 64 X2, supports DDR2 RAM memory)
AM3 (will support DDR3 RAM memory)
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