Tong Family

CPU decoder ring – The Tech Report
Today, AMD and Intel have abandoned clock speed entirely on some chips in favor of three-digit model number systems that are more or less arbitrary. It’s gotten to the point where you need a secret decoder ring just to understand what you’re getting in a modern CPU.
Well, hold out your hand, because we dug around in the bottom of the Frosted Flakes and found one for you. The following chart lists a large number of processors, and gives you just about all the pertinent details of each one. Wondering exactly what the differences are between the two types of Athlon XP 3000+, or what the heck a Pentium 4 550 is? Just find the chip you’re curious about in the table below, and all will be made clear.