by , 11:20 AM EDT, June 7th, 2006

When Apple Computer announced that it was abandoning the PowerPC processors that it had been using for years in favor of processors from Intel, some analysts questioned why the Mac wouldn't house chips from AMD. The answer to that question seems to be unfolding now as benchmarks comparing Intel's soon-to-be released mid-range processors to AMD's higher end chips are available.

In an independent study conducted by HEXUS.net, Intel's E6600 2.4GHz chip, code named "Conroe," outperformed AMD's high-end Extreme Edition AM2-based FX-62 chip. The HEXUS.net report states "It's abundantly clear that Conroe will be the fastest CPU in town when it hits in a few weeks time. It pulverizes all present CPUs in the majority of CPU-based benchmarks."

George Ou, writing for ZDNet, says "This effectively means that AMD's flagship desktop performance CPU will be obsolete by the end of next month when Intel released the CPUs codenamed Conroe."

Price is another factor to take into consideration with these chips, too. The Intel E6600 will cost about US$250, compared to AMD's FX-62 at about $1,000.

Intel has also stated that it plans to keep its chip designs fresh in an effort to avoid falling behind the competition. The Core architecture available in today's Intel-based Macs will be replaced with something newer.

In the end, healthy competition between Intel and AMD will be a good thing for Mac users, even if an AMD chip never makes it inside an Apple product. As the two processor makers innovate to keep up with each other, new products will emerge that are sure to offer us even better performance.