[wellylug] Choice of chip for Linux box

David McNab david at rebirthing.co.nz
Tue Aug 19 22:46:38 NZST 2003


On Tue, 2003-08-19 at 22:30, Colin & Josephine Lewis wrote:
> A friend has asked whether any one computer chip - AMD, Intel etc. are
> better than any other for a system being designed to run Linux.  As this
> is way outside my area of knowledge, I was hoping someone else might be
> able to help out.

This question skirts close to the precipice of 'CPU Religion'.

As far as physical differences go, Intel CPUs run cooler, can take
quieter fans, but for a given processing throughput are much more
expensive. Conversely, AMD chips run pretty hot, often need noisier
fans, but give much more processing bang for the buck.

Then there's the philosophical differences - Intel being to processor
chips what Windows is to operating systems - the dominant over-priced
slickly-marketed near-monopolist, with AMD as the better-value underdog.

Personally, I haven't used Intel chips for 3 years, and have no plans of
going back, especially since their coming 64-bit models are 32-bit
compatible, while Intel's 64-bit chips are not.

Hope this helps

Cheers
David




More information about the wellylug mailing list