Game Reqiurements

[Krotos]

Every time I check the system reqiurements on a game it says Pentium II 350MHz (just an example). Why does it say Pentium instead of a AMD?

[Force Flow]

Has Intel been around longer than AMD? If it has, then that might be part of the reason right there.

Now that you brought this up, I'm curious to know as well.

[Edave]

Great Question!!
I would like to know as well,but im willing to guess that money has something to do with it.Maybe intel pays to have their name on the boxes??

[Surge1243]

My guess would be that Intel was probably the most well known processor maker back then. There used to be Intel, Cyrix, AMD, etc. and I think Intel was the "big name" to everyone. Back when the Pentium I was around most people looked for that symbol on computers and thought that computers without Pentium processors were somehow inferior (this is not fact, just my opinion). Now, there is just Intel and AMD but I guess the game makers still want to keep it in terms of Intel only.

[arubahounds]

By virtue of its size, name recognition and market share Intel is the standard everyone compares themselves to. AMD has done the same thing since the intro of its XP chip. Why do they call the chip an XP 2800+ when it doesn't run at 2.8 Ghz?

If AMD uses Intel as it's benchmark why shouldn't the software co's do the same?

HT

[Greedo]

amd didn't become a real threat to intel (if ever) until 700 mhz computers were the norm, so a program that asks for 350 mhz is really before amd's start as a mainstream cpu maker.

i have some older games that state cpu requirements for both intel and cyrix chips, so it's not always intel, just 99% of the time.

[Greedo]

that 700 mhz estimate doesn't seem right in retrospect. seems to me they got more namebrand recognition starting then, but may have made chips for quite awhile before that. i'm not adding anything useful to this, am i.

[Strider]

I recently read an article on Intel, in the very beginning Intel and AMD weren't rivals, they were business partners. Intel would build the "Cadillac" of Processors, while AMD was license to produce the lesser ones - of course that would change a few years later.

So that is probably why Intel name was put on Game Packages from the beginning.

[Nuclear Krusader]

There was a time also when AMD CPUs were incompatible with many games.

Last nite I was installing Lords of the Realm 2 and the program crashed when testing the CPU.

[Krotos]

So is it better to have a Intel processor than a AMD processor? I'm getting AMD now becuase its cheaper and performs the same as Intel. Should I switch?

[Strider]

It's a personal choice, AMD isn't better than Intel and Intel isn't better that AMD.

I used to build AMD based computers, but I've switched over to Intel. The ease of building Intel to me is the deciding factor, I can almost throw an Intel together in a very short time, while I tend to take a little more time with AMD. I almost constantly thinking about the temperature issue that AMD seems to have, although I hear that is changing. Once again, it is just a person choice.

So go with AMD if that is what you truly want to do.