Well, as much promise as the socket 939 Sempron 64 has, I think I need
to get something ordered so my kids can get back to using the upgraded
computer.

I've narrowed my choices down to two with apparently comparable
performance and on newer platforms that may survive a little longer
before being phased out. I have an AGP Radeon 9800 Pro I want to
use, so I'm looking at AGP motherboards.

The AMD configuration I'm considering will run about $240 for the CPU
and motherboard. The CPU is the AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB
512KB L2 Cache Socket 939
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103535
and the motherboard is the ASUS A8V Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131541.

The Intel configuration I'm considering runs about $270. The CPU is
the Intel P4 630 Prescott 800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116198
and the motherboard is the ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 865PE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131511.

Both of these configurations are 64-bit compatible. The AMD appears
to be a little stronger on graphics-intensive things like games while
the Intel seems to have the upper hand on more CPU-intensive tasks
such as video encoding. I understand the Prescott can get pretty
hot, but is it really that bad - especially with a well-ventilated
case such as the Antec Sonata?

I don't consider myself an "Intel guy" even though I've only bought
Intel processors from my very first 8088 and I don't have any
aversion to going AMD. I just want the kids' computer to be rock
solid and trouble-free and offer a potential upgrade path in the
future.

Assuming that cost is not a factor, which way should I go? Got any
other suggestions I should consider?

Thanks!

Tim