AMD and Intel are the two major computer processor manufacturers. As far as overall performance both processors go back and forth alot. The next processor produced is almost always better than the last one released by their competitor.As far as Media, Gaming, and 3D Graphics AMD consistently blows Intel away in Benchmark tests. AMD processors have excelled at 3D processing for over ten years now.Both AMD and Intel are x86 architecture, and both have 32 bit and 64 bit processors. AMD was the first to produce a processor that was both 32 bit and 64 bit.For a long time both processors gave you their clock speeds in Hertz. Now you will see Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz and AMD Athlon 64 3000+. What the AMD processor is telling you is that it is a 64 bit processor that is equivalent to a 3Ghz Pentium 4 even though it runs around 2.6Ghz.The reason for this is because Intel processors execute one instruction per clock tick. While AMD processors execute almost two instructions per clock tick. The higher the hertz rating the faster the clock ticks. The faster the clock ticks the more commands the processor can execute per second. What this means is that AMD has managed to extend the upscalability of their processors, by getting more out of them per tick rather than making them tick faster.AMD processors are cheaper because AMD is a smaller company and it doesn't spend near as much on advertising. AMD is the processor of choice for most geeks and gamers. A popular AMD slogan among AMD enthusiasts is: Intel Inside = Idiot Outside.