I had an AMD CPU in my last computer - It never worked! I chucked it way before it was due to be replaced simply for that reason - couldn't do a thing without it crashing, freezing & restarting. No matter what OS I installed.....
The reason I went for intel and ATi in my new PC was mainly to be the exact opposite to that PC. My current computer - P4c 3.2Ghz, P4C800 Deluxe, ATi 9800XT, 1024Mb Corsair RAM has never crashed, handles everything I chuck at it and looks beautiful. Even CFS3 runs very well! Its just had its first birthday

(I gave it its first clean, took everything apart and removed all the dust! I then did a complete reformat and now have it dual booted with two XP installations, one for games with pretty much everything disabled and the other for everything else!)
Whether or not it is the fastest available doesn't bother me - It works! And Believe me a working computer is a joy to behold! And just the other day I was flying VFR round Jersey in my favorite Beechraft bonanza in VC mode at high settings, cool water textures doing there stuff at 30fps - it doesn't get much better than that!
I attribute its stability to Hyperthreading, no doutb I shall be shouted at for going along with the Intel marketing dribble

Birdman.