text: which is better, the intel viiv or the amd athlon 64 x2?   the above is completely backwards.  intel cpu's are, by and large, far more costly than their equivalents in amd, because intel has a huge advertising budget they have to cover.  however, in terms of performance, amd continually outperforms intel, in terms of electricity usage, temperature, and assorted benchmarks.  that said, the choice in cpus does come down to what you'll be using it for.  if just office things, then stick to intel.  if you plan to be playing games on the machine, than the athlon 64 x2 is the processor of choice.