Recently we compared a dozen AMD and Intel desktop processors priced between $100 and $200 in order to determine which offered the best performance vs. price ratio for mainstream computer users. But then we asked ourselves, what can be had for less than $100?

Today we will be focusing on almost a dozen AMD and Intel chips priced below this mark. Something to be aware of is that this article features just a single LGA1156 processor from Intel, while the rest are designed to run on the company's dying LGA775 platform. On the other hand we have five AMD processors, all of which support the latest AM3 socket and are backwards compatible with older AM2/AM2+ motherboards.

This time around AMD has a significant advantage over Intel in terms of flexibility, but the question remains: how do they compare performance-wise? Before we throw all these processors on our test bed to find out, we will check out each model and give a brief explaination on why we chose them for our round-up.