Re: Which new CPU should I buy?
 

Ref 'PR' system, if it does compare its performance against another system. Why are there 3 chips with the same ranking number thats performance varies so largely.

Also the intanium (1 & 2) are 64bit chips. They emulate 32bit for backwards compatibility though badly. They are though 100% 64bit in core design. The latest core design does contain some parts to help the 32bit emulator. See here for info http://www.intel.com/products/server...igh1_itanium2&
The amd stuff is x86-64, the whole idea being that it can do both properly.
Lets hope for there sake they get some help with m$ writing xp64 as here are some early benchies from it. Notice the large drops in performance when going to native 64bit mode.
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/sho...tml?i=1961&p=4

For a comparison of cpu performance this site list numerous cpu's results in spec inf perfomance, note the opteron wins the first test but then loses the rest.
http://www.aspsys.com/hardware/specchart/

K