I'm about ready to do a system upgrade and I'm looking for some
opinions on my options.
I use the machine for mostly general stuff, some games, and some still
photo and video editing.

My current system is an Abit BE7, with a P4 2.2Ghz CPU. I've been happy
with the Abit motherboards and would like to stay with them.

Some of the things that are driving my selection are that I have 1.5G
of DDR PC3200 RAM (Samsung CL3 chips) and an ATI Radeon AGP based
video/tv tuner card (All in Wonder 8500) that I would like to keep.

I'm currently running XP SP2, but would like to go with a processor
that supports 64 bit version (for future). I'd like to go with a dual
core system, but the Abit motherboards that support Intel's dual core
are all DDR2 and PCIExpress (no AGP) boards so I would have to replace
the RAM and video.

Within my price range, and keeping the items I want to retain, I've
narrowed my choices down to the following:

AS8 with a Pentium 4 650 3.4Ghz Intel 865PE chipset.

AV8 with an Athlon 3800+ 64 X2 dual core, VIA K8T800 chipset

I've always used the Intel chips, but am leaning toward the AMD system
due to the dual core capability and the various reports of better
performance and lower heat than the Intel chips.

I am not in any way trying to bash AMD, but I've had no personal
experience with their CPU's and the Via chipset. Are there any issues
related to AMD/VIA systems? Also, I know CPU clock speed isn't
everything, but is the AMD 3800+ at 2.0Ghz comprable to the Pentium 4
at 3.4Ghz? Intel has a larger L2 cache, but AMD's L1 is bigger. How
much of a difference does that make? I would imagine the AMD dual core
outperforms Intel's Hyperthreading.

I realize that either system would work for what I need, but both
configurations are about the same price and I'd like to get the best
performance for my money.

I have done some Google searching, and found all kinds of benchmark
tests comparing Intel and AMD, but nothing specific to my choices and I
am just looking for some opinions on what I've come up with.

Thanks.

- Mike O.