Computer Shopper Intel and AMD processor reviews

Computer Shopper issue 244 (available from around March 20, 2008) in its processor reviews of Intel and AMD processors gave the following Intel processors its Budget Buy, Best Buy and Ultimate awards:
1. - Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 (dual-core processor) - Budget Buy award - Priced at £44 in March 2008 - Click here! to read the review of this class of processor.
2. - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (dual-core processor) - Best Buy award - Priced at £125 in March 2008 - Click here! to read the review of this class of processor.
3. - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 (quad-core processor) - Ultimate award- Priced at £204 in March 2008 - Click here! to read the review of this class of processor.
Computer Shopper 2007 Awards
The Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 dual-core processor received the Best Component award in the Computer Shopper 2007 Awards. It was priced at just over £100 in October 2007.
The Computer Shopper 2007 Awards gave the Best Intel Motherboard award to the Abit IP35 Pro board. The Best AMD Motherboard award went to the MSI K9AGM2 board.
Using a laptop/notebook Pentium M notebook processor in a desktop PC
If you want a quiet desktop computer that uses only a minimal amount of power and that runs so cool that it can be fitted with a passive heatsink (one without a fan), ATX desktop PC motherboards are available that use the processors normally only found in laptop/notebook computers. It is also possible to buy an adapter that fits to particular standard motherboards that allows a mobile notebook processor to be used.
Click here! to go directly to information on these motherboards, processors, and adapters on Page 3 of this article.
The choice doesn't end there. Both AMD and Intel have made dual-core processors available, which are single units that house two processor cores with the same clock speed. Moreover, Intel first made quad-core processors available (its Core 2 Quad range) in January 2007. AMD made its Phenom range of quad-core processors available in November 2007.
Note that all of the dual-core processors made by AMD and Intel are 64-bit processors that can run 32-bit and 64-bit software, which includes a 64-bit operating system, such as Windows XP Professional x64 Edition • Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition • Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit edition • Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition • Windows Vista Business 64-bit edition • Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit edition and Linux.
Note that a 64-bit operating system can also run 32-bit software with ease. However, note that some 32-bit software might not run on a 64-bit operating system, and all 16-bit software will not run on one.
WOWing Your 32-Bit Applications with 64-Bit Windows Part 1 -
http://www.devx.com/amd/Article/20342
AMD has now made triple-core (X3) and quad-core (X4) processors available. This article compares them and the alternatives from Intel. Note that Intel does not have triple-core processors.
New AMD Phenom X3 Vs. Phenom X4 -
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd-phenom-athlon,review-30731.html
See the Using Windows Vista section on this site for more information on it.
When two or more applications are running on a dual-core or a quad-core system, the work can be shared by the two or four processor cores. However, a single application won't run faster on a dual-core/quad-core system unless it has been programmed to do so by splitting it into threads that can be shared between the two/four cores. A multithreaded application is one that has been programmed to run on two or more processor cores. Such applications are currently (April, 2007) still rare.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor for Desktop -
http://www.amd.com/usen/Processors/.../0,,30_118_9485_13041,00.html
Intel Core Duo Processors - http://www.intel.com/products/processor/coreduo/
If you are using software that hasn't been written to take advantage of two processor cores, you can make use of SMP Seesaw by Mike Lin.
"SMP Seesaw is a small utility for dual CPU workstations that allows the user to finely tune how Windows balances the processing load between the two CPUs."