Finding a perfect processor that meets your needs to build your computer is not that hard. You have to understand a few things that can help you to decide what the right processor is for you.
There are two leading manufacturer of processors in the market today. These two are intel and AMD. Both of them have their own advantages. The intel main advantage over AMD is its popularity in the market and its durability. On the other hand, the AMD is much cheaper with its intel equivalent processor speed and performances better in gaming and graphics application.
The next thing that you need to know is the core value. The available processor cores out there are single core, dual core, quad core and the newly released six core processors. For AMD processors they call it X2, X3, X4 and X6. The amount of core in your processor does not mean it multiplies their actual speed. Let say a dual core 3.0 GHz does not mean it performances at 6GHz fast. But it is 50 percent faster than the single core processor. Another thing is that the amount of cores in the processor can do well in multi tasking applications like video editing and some of the latest games.
The last thing we need to know here is the architecture. There are 2 types of architecture available in the processor, the 32-bit and 64-bit. 64-bit is now more popular rather than the old 32-bit. The disadvantage of a 32-bit over a 64-bit is that it is only capable up to 4GB of memory. Another thing is that it does not support the 64-bit operating system. Operating system has 2 versions which is the 32-bit and 64-bit including the latest windows 7 has a 32-bit version. A 32-bit processor will not run on a 64-bit operating system but a 64-bit processor will work on a 32-bit operating system.
If you choose an intel processor and if your application is mostly on video graphics you better choose a greater number of cores let say a quad core. But if your applications are purely office work like word processing and surfing the net a dual core or even a single core will do.
Bottom line here is that intel processors are more expensive but durable than AMD. AMD performs much better in graphics applications. And also you should be thinking for the future upgrade, socket LGA 1366 supports the intel i7 quad core and their latest 6 core. AMD remains the same to their socket. The best choices for processors are Intel socket 1366 or AMD socket AM3.