New system need advice

[Andy_L]

I plan to build a new system in the next month or so, but I cannot make up my mind to go with an Athlon or PIII. Will be used for gaming and general PC stuff, will be SCSI, so ATA66 not a big concern, and will have a 300 Watt p/s, all I need is a proc. and MB. Looking at 600-650Mhz, what do you all think is the best in terms of value, performance and comptibility/reliability?
I have already thought about a dual processor system, but don't want to make the junmp right now.

[Spencer]

Intel has always been the leader in compatability. I'm sure that's changing though. I beleive the Athlon is still slightly faster that the pIII, however the pIII coppermine is supposed to be very overclockable, if your into that.(reliability?). What ever you choose make sure the mobo supports PC133 and AGP4X for future upgrades.

[tonym]

I have just two words for you:

"GO ATHLON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

You won't be sorry, I now have 6 machines and I'm not!!!


Tony

[PaulG]

Athlon seems to be the technology leader now, however it's abilities comes best in dual proc. systems (data interchange).
I am building some machines now and looked after info in processor behaviour in different setups. There is very slight difference in speed between current top processors (speed is mainly determined by L2 memory speed and the application's requirements).
You should look for a processor with on-chip L2 (like Athlon and PIII Xeon, Coppermine)and a suitable motherboard like Gigabyte GA-6CXC for Intel or their new one for Athlon (see Giga-byte.com).
Bear in mind, this little speed difference gives 200% money investment !