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Notes
In trying to keep this article understandable, some older models and socket types have been omitted. This can lead to some confusion, particularly with AMD processors, where you'll find older cores have different amounts of cache and different clock speeds. However, you should by now know what aspects of a CPUs specification to look at. If you're not sure whether you're looking at the right processor model, see how much cache it has, what package it's in and what the clock speed is.
Not all of a processor's features have been listed here. Instruction sets like SSE have been left out. The tables would have been rather large and hard to read otherwise. Instead, the features that consistently change with model numbers have been used.
I have to remember all that?
If you've got this far and feel like crying (I did), don't worry. Both AMD and Intel have to make a lot of decisions to create a product number that fits in correctly with the products around it. That can, when you line up all the processors together, make things seem a little confusing. However, when you break things down it gets easier.
Find the product range you want. Within that range, the higher numbers will signify better overall performance. Comparing across ranges can be tricky at times, but it's important to remember that you're not alone. If you're trying to decide which processor to buy, be on the look out for reviews and also seek the opinions of users on forums, who will be able to tell you specific things like which processor core is preferable. Of course, you can always get detailed information from the manufacturer's website.
