need to get up to speed

[GreatWaves]

pun intended... sort of

Been years since I did any home building and I'm not up to speed on the latest processors....

I'm curious how AMD and Intel processors compare these days. Specifically, are the clock speeds directly comparable with the current CPU's (assuming same number of cores)?

For example, I have a comp that has this CPU:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.8GHz

How does the following AMD processor compare to the above?
AMD ATHLON II X2 250 - 3.0 GHz,45nm SOI,2MB,socket AM3,65W

Both have two cores. Is the 1.2 Ghz faster clock speed a reasonable gauge of how much faster that AMD is over the Intel? It used to be that you simply could not compare AMD's and Intels based on clock speed (leading to AMD's unusual naming convention like "XP2500", etc).

Also a question about overclocking: is that AMD Athlon X2 250 generally a CPU that has a good amount of headroom for getting something extra through overclocking? Last CPU that I overclocked was a AMD Athlon XPM2500 many years ago.

As you can see I'm not going for anything major. I'm not a gamer and don't have huge need for a really high end system. But I would like to upgrade a little and do it the fun way... building it and overclocking a little.

Thanks

 

[RJC]

The Intel is a mobile chip and the AMD is a desktop chip, I would suspect the AMD would be faster.

Overclocking not sure, hopefully someone may be able to shed some light, you may be able to get to 3.6 - 3.8ghz.

Link below allows you to choose desktop cpu's and compare with each other:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

 

[El Jimben]

Generally speaking Intel still edge it over AMD even at the same clockspeeds but some programs favour one over the other and vice versa. Both have a decent amount of overclocking headroom but I would say again Intel probably have a little bit of an advantage in this area.

AMD is probably better value for money if you don't tend to do much clocking but I'll let you decide, I would suggest you take a look at this page to compare a few chips and benchmarks etc

 

[GreatWaves]

Thanks for inputs. Just a clarification: the Intel I mentioned is in a comp I already have. I was just asking how that compares to the AMD one. I plan to get an AMD because they are value for money.

But you say that the AMD's don't generally overclock as much. Now that you mention it I guess that was true (in general) when I was overclocking years ago (however the XP mobiles overclocked really good because they were unlocked), but still Intels were more flexible. So that hasn't changed then.

Just wanted to also check whether this Mobo allows changing the clock settings:
ASROCK AM2+ AMD785G VGA H CROSF DVI ATX

Thanks