Intel Core i7 vs. AMD Phenom II X4 945 [closed]

Question

I heard that the i7s are more powerful than the AMD chips, but I'm wondering how this can be true in this case. The AMD has four CPU cores and I think that the i7 only has two. So which is more powerful?

Answer 1

The general rule of thumb is that Intel chips are "more powerful". They tend to have more transistors, run at a higher clock speed, consume more power, and have more optimization features included on the chip. The downside is that all of this horsepower comes at a high cost to the end user.

So when talking about cycles per second and work done per second, Intel generally comes out on top. To be fair to AMD, Intel has a lot more money to spend on development which translates to faster parts. AMD has also decided to focus on the mid to low end PC markets. That leads to a more efficient chip that do more with less power, have a slower clock cycle, and they have a lower cost to the consumer. (link)

More to your question, only some of the mobile Core i7's have 2 cores. The desktop models have 4 or 6 cores (source). So depending on how you are comparing your parts, you'll get some interesting results.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

You may hear all kinds of different opinions from different people, but benchmarks don't lie. I recommend this website for all of your benchmark reference needs. It is simply the best.

Answer 3

The i7 system that I put together a number of months ago has 4 cores, each with Hyper-Threading.