ABOUT INTEL

Intel (Integrated Electronics Corporation) is the world's largest CPU manufacturer. It was founded in 1968 and is based in Santa Clara, California (US). Intel is the creator of the x86 CPU architecture which is now used in the majority of PCs (and since 2006 Macs as well). Intel's domination in the x86 CPU market led to charges of antitrust violations in US, EU, Japan and South Korea over the years.

ABOUT AMD

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) was founded in 1969 and is based in Sunnyvale, California (US). It is the second largest supplier of x86 architecture CPUs and, after a merger with ATI in 2006, the third largest manufacturer of GPUs (after Intel and nVidia). It is considered the underdog of the CPU market due to revenue and market share several times smaller than Intel's (19% in 2009 Q4 vs Intel's 80%).

The setup for this one is fairly simple. We're directly comparing processors from Intel at AMD at a range of price points. Intel has had a lock on the overall performance lead since the Core 2 Duo first hit the scene, but AMD has made clear its intention to maintain a competitive price-performance ratio. To do so, AMD will have to meet or beat each of the processors in Intel's current desktop lineup, which looks like so: L2 cache Fab process TDP Price (total) Core 2 Duo E6300 1.83GHz 2 2MB 65nm 65W $183 Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz 2 2MB 65nm 65W $224 Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz 2 4MB 65nm 65W $316 Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz 2 4MB 65nm 65W $530 Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz 2 4MB 65nm 75W $999 Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 4 8MB 65nm 105W $851 Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.66GHz 4 8MB 65nm 130W $999 vE63001.83GHz22MB65nm65W$183Core 2 Duo E64002.13GHz22MB65nm65W$224Core 2 Duo E66002.4GHz24MB65nm65W$316Core 2 Duo E67002.66GHz24MB65nm65W$530Core 2 Extreme Model Clock speed Cores

X68002.93GHz24MB65nm75W$999Core 2 Quad Q66002.4GHz48MB65nm105W$851Core 2 Extreme QX67002.66GHz48MB65nm130W$999