Just get the AMD machine you will not be disappointed!!! I just put together: AMD XP1800+ MSI Kt3 ultra motherboard Crucial 512 mb ddr pc2100 memory Gainward Geforce3 ti200-ti450 golden pack 64 ddr Coolermaster heatsink Antec Sx 830 full tower Performance Case Seagate Barracuda 40gb 7200rpm Total cost $540.00
I trade off of my P4. I also have my old PII 350 fully configured and ready as backup. It's only slightly slower at graphics, but it's the same speed on receiving data. All I have to do is copy my backed-up data from the P4 to the PII and I'm ready to go again. Then, I can get the P4 repaired. Besides, what are you going to do with a PII. Sell it for $100 or surf the net? Plus, all the backup drives your machine can hold won't get you running again quickly if the power supply goes down. (I've had ONE hard drive failure over all the years... had either 3 or 4 power supplies replaced.)
Pussy,,, got the parts from newegg, the tower from the upper racks at best buy. The tower case from Antec is fantastic and I only paid $75.00 for it. http://www.antec-inc.com/en_wkstion.html
I have a dual processor p3 933. It runs circles around my 2.2 ghz p4. The next upgrade I do I am going to get the dual processor amd 2.0 ghz. I was reluctant to do this in the past because amd cpu's tend to overheat. I think they have fixed this somewhat. Consider getting the dual processor. It will only cost another 350 or so. John