CPU Price Shootout: Intel P4 640 vs AMD A64 3500+

Final Thoughts

Well, the test results speak for themselves, and strictly from a price point of view, the AMD 3500+ beats the P4 640 but not by the margin one might expect. None of this takes into account multi tasking or 64 bit applications and benchmarks, something we’ll cover more in depth with AMD’s release of the Venice line and Microsoft’s upcoming release of the 64 bit Edition of WinXP Professional.

All testing aside, I actually liked the 640, while maybe not quite the gamer the 3500+ is, the third generation Prescott is showing some of the potential we thought we’d see more than a year ago. First and foremost its nice to finally see 64 bit enabled on a Intel CPU.I also think that we have not yet seen the best that the Prescott core has to offer, but then again, with dual core on the horizon, we may never actually see it.

All in all both processors performed very well, as I said earlier, I’ve been using both extensively over the past two weeks for my many hours of CS beatings at Nate’s hands and really have noticed no differenced in how frequently I die between the two (There goes that excuse). Although i’ll be the first to admit to being an AMD “fan boy”, I have to say I was happy with the performance the P4 640 gave me.

The Legit Bottom Line

If you are an Intel fan and already have a 5XX series processor, pass on the 6XX series. If you are looking to upgrade to an LGA 775 system and are on a budget, the P4 640 is a great choice.

While I’m sure the Intel vs AMD debate will rage on, I thopught both CPUs performed very well. In the end, this debate might be decided by supporting components (memory support, chipsets) more than the competitors themselves.