which is better?

athlon 64 x2 3600 dual core of amd VS. dual core intel 820 2.8g 800fsb 2mb

im wondering which more reliable when it comes in overall performance?

 

From the CPU charts on Tom's Hardware, it looks like the X2 3600+ is better. Now this is not to say there aren't other factors that weigh in for those benchmarks, but they should give you some idea where the processors rank.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=937&model2=899&chart=422

 

I've found that with CPU's, it's mostly a question of personal preference. You can find benchmarks on the web that will say AMD is faster, and others that say Intel is faster... there's many factors that go into CPU performance and different CPU's will perform different tasks differently..... so, IMHO, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other....

hd2k