How can you compare amd to intel?

[Adah]

im speaking about the old xp vs pentium 4. intel's GHZ and fsb is way higher. i must admit amd to me is smoother how is this?

 

[C-Man]

For the old Athlon series of CPUs, you simply read the number before the plus sign, that number represents the approximate performance relative to a Intel Pentium-class processor. The Athlon 64 3200+ performs approximately like a 3.2Ghz Pentium 4, while a 3800+ would be equivalent to a 3.8Ghz Pentium 4, even though the actual clockspeed is lower.