CPU cache

[Fletch]

Hey folks, been prodding around the market for a new cpu, and noticed something when i looked at the cache listings, some have a L1 and L2, usually 128, and 512 respectively, then i see some thats just plain listed as like 512, or 1mb etc. Just out of curiosity, if the Ls are not listed do the cpus/motherboards run the cache differently/ more/less effectively?
Would the L1 128 L2 512 work overall faster(with the higher total over all i guessing, 640 or whatever) than the listed 512.
I guess i noticed this doing the AMD vs Pentium, lots of the AMDs i saw the two lvls of cache, where the Pentium only had the one,... Soo, I'm wondering is the Pent folks just dont mention these, or its a totally different thing, me brain is boggled on this one, and would really like some input before i go blow a few hundred bucks on a cpu i dont really understand,!

[RipperRoo]

First thing to remember with cpu's is you can't really compare AMD and Pentium. They each have thier strong points.
When selecting the chip for you, its important to take into account the sort of things you plan to do on the machine.
I can suggest you have a read of THIS. It may help you decide the chip for you.

[Fletch]

Most excellent, the link to the pantherproducts site had just about everything tha I needed to know, preciate it Ripp.