I'm in the process of building my own computer from scratch and I've run into the same problems. I've done quite a bit of research and I'm still just as confused. Intel does have higher clock speeds than comparable AMD chips. BUT, as ICM and Erlik and company have said, AMD chip architecture compensates for the lower clock speed. Its like a highway system. Intel's highway lets you move at 100 mph (162 kph) but their roads are complex so you have to travel a little farther to get to your destination. Whereas, AMD highways only let you go at 60 mph (100 kph), but their roads are laid out better so you get to where you're going in less time. But here's a curve ball. Intel has a maximum Front Side Bus (FSB) of 800 Mhz, whereas, AMD's FSB is half that speed, 400 Mhz. If the CPU is the highway, then the FSB is the on ramp. Intel chips let you move data between the motherboard and CPU faster. Both the AMD Athlon and Intel Pentium (Prescott) have a 64 bit pipeline. In other words they have 64 lanes of traffic flow instead of the older 32 lanes. So there is an argument that Intel has the edge in speed. But AMD's are less expensive. So, it depends on how deep you mother's pockets go.

<strong>bandolin</strong><br />
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