For many years I only dealt with Intel processors on testbeds, while my home systems were all built exclusively on AMD CPUs. Everything started long time ago with an AMD Athlon 750 Slot A CPU. There was a processor die in the middle of a PCB with two external cache-memory chips on both sides of it. This whole thing was placed into a humongous cartridge the size of a graphics card, only much thicker because of the cooling system. Then I stayed for quite some time with a renowned Socket A platform, a little bit with Socket 754 and then for a while again with Socket 939. What didn’t I like about Intel processors? There are, in fact, several different reasons. I didn’t like the constantly changing chipsets and sockets, when you had to replace the mainboard when you wanted to upgrade to a CPU with higher clock speed. For example, there were three types of Socket 370. I didn’t like Rambus memory, Pentium 4 processor microarchitecture and high heat dissipation of the Prescott cores. I didn’t like very confusing model lineup evolution, when the first Pentium 4 Willamette CPUs were slower than Pentium III, and the processors on the new Prescott core fell behind those on Northwood. Moreover, I wasn’t happy about the high prices on Intel processors that is why I always went for AMD CPUs that seemed to work perfectly for me from all aspects.

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