AMD and Intel Pentium Processors in Simple English

Today’s PC market is dominated by microprocessors from two manufacturers: Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD. Intel makes Celerons, Pentium 4s and Centrinos (mobile Pentium processor with extra chips to control wireless Internet connections). AMD offers similar products: Athlons, Turions and Semprons.

When you look at a CPU you’ll see specifications on it such as: Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo, 2.66 GHz. This example breaks down as:

Chip brand: Intel
Chip family: Pentium Core 2 Duo
Clockspeed: 2.66 Gigahertz (GHz).

A processor’s clockspeed is simply the rate at which it executes instructions. The abbreviation GHz (gigahertz) is the number of billions of cycles it can perform in one second. Pretty mind boggling.

This measurement has historically been a good way to compare one CPU to another, but it’s not absolute because other parts of a system, like memory, motherboard, and video adapter, also influence performance.

[From Winter Survival Guide 2007]