Viper's Lair has posted an article on the current situation of AMD vs Intel.
The lack of any thermal protection is another disadvantage AMD has against Intel. Athlons run hot, and if your cooling isn't up to spec, your CPU will die. The Athlon XP has an internal diode to prevent this, but no manufacturers has a shipping motherboard that makes use of this feature. Asus does have their C.O.P. (CPU Overheat Prevention) feature, but don't expect a working CPU if you forgot to reinstall your heatsink. Intel CPUs on the other hand can slow down on the fly (throttling), and actually shut down (i.e. lock up) before any serious damage is done.Read more
