There is AMD and Intel
AMD produce the "AMD Athlon™ Xp processor " Chip and Intel produce the "Pentium 4™ processor " chip.
Both companies are continually updating their processors and compete to try and make faster and faster processors.
Currently at the time of writing it is up to 3 GHz for Pentium 4 and 2.7GHz for Athlon Xp chip.
Both processors fit into a specially designed socket on the motherboard.
Motherboards for AMD Processor will include a socket A interface and motherboards for Pentium 4's will either include a 423 Pin interface or a new type 478 Pin interface.
So it is not possible to change a AMD processor for Intel or vice versa
Processors which are not "locked" can be OVERCLOCKED to give a little extra speed .
This is not recommended for the beginner to attempt as it can cause your system to be unstable and worst still you can overheat / damage your expensive processor.
Both processors MUST be fitted with a heat sink and a fan.
Fans are normally speed controlled from the motherboard to give greater cooling when the chip gets hotter.If the fan should fail the processor speed should drop down to a very slow speed to help prevent your processor from burning out.
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Revised: July 07, 2008