Intel Celeron vs AMD Duron

Source: TechReport

MUCH HAS BEEN MADE of MHz over the past few months. Intel is running at 2.2GHz with its Pentium 4, and AMD is trailing, at least numerically, at 1.67GHz with its Athlon XP 2000+. Although the new P4 and Athlon XP are neck-and-neck in performance, it's been some time since the two were on a level MHz playing field.
The world of processors isn't just about flagship chips, though. Both AMD and Intel have value processors in their respective Duron and Celeron lines. As luck would have it, both of these value chips are available at 1.2GHz. Not only that, but both the Duron and Celeron recently received some internal improvements that ought to improve clock-for-clock performance. That just begs for a performance comparison.

Value processors might not be quite as fast or sexy as the latest and greatest from the chip giants, but they have their place. Not only do they make great corporate solutions where absolute performance usually isn't an issue, but they're also a cheap way to put together a second machine to lug to LAN parties and the like. For many users' needs, the performance of value chips is plenty. The faster they get, the more attractive they become to a steadily growing slice of the market.

So let's get down to it.