CPU choice

[Darq]

I have access to a P4 2.4 or 2.8 or an athlon 3400+.  I'm trying to piece together the comp for a mame system.  Just curious if one is better than the others?

I'll have to get a mobo regardless so would it be better just to pick up a barebones cpu/mobo combo instead of trying to recycle the older cpus?

Thanks guys.

[clickhea]

pentium vs athlon is an on going debate, you have your pentium lovers and you have your haters

athlon had the lead back in the day, but from what i remember reading recently pentium has the market right now.

[DeLuSioNal29]

They are all about the same.  However, since you don't have the MB yet, I would research to see which ones use the DDR2 ram which is dirt cheap now.  I got mine from Tigerdirect.com and after rebate it came out to $40 for 2 GB or DDR2 ram!  DDR is more expensive so try to avoid motherboards that have that.

So, in a nutshell, I would compare both Intel Motherboards vs. AMD motherboards and then come up with the better of the 2 based on the ram.

~ D

[Cero21]

An athon 3400+ is roughly equivalent to a P4 3.4 Ghz.  Therefore go for the athlon.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I went to Tigerdirect.com and here's what I bought (all for about $200 after rebate)

-  AMD Athlon X2 (dual core) 4000+ (1000 mhz FSB)
-  Mini ATX Socket AM2 Motherboard with on board audio, on board Nvidia video with PCIe for upgrading
-  2 GB of DDR 2 Ram (800mhz)
-  Mini ATX case with power supply included

I already had a hard drive which I bought for $50 (160 gb)

It runs like a champ!

The AMD 4000+ chip costs $69.99.

~ D