Which Rig???

I RECENTLY MADE MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST FOR MY WIFE. IT MAINLY CONSISTED OF A SHUTTLE XPC, CPU, AND MEMORY. THE PROB WAS WHICH ONE...PENTIUM 4 2.6C HT OR OPTERON 140. I WANT TO TRY INTEL, MY FIRST SINCE MY PII 400, BUT I ALSO WANT THE OPTERON, JUST PLAIN COOL. I KNOW THE PROS AND CONS OF BOTH, BUT JUST WANTED SOME FEEDBACK FROMTHE SECTION THAT WILL GET THE MOST ATTENTION FROM MY RIG. MAINLY FOLDING. WHICH DO YOU THINK WILL HAVE THE MOST SUCCESSIN FOLDING AND OCING. I CHOSE THESE CPU'S AS ENTRY LEVEL WITH THE POTENTIAL UPGRADE LATER ON. ANY FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED.

Oi, caps lock = BAD.

So you want a shuttle and a cpu and ram. I haven't seen a shuttle for opterons and you prob wouldn't want that either REALLY expensive.

you can get shuttles for the AMD A64 3200+, which I would say is better than a P4 2.6.

Well that is a toss up. I would go for the P4 just because I haven't played with one yet. I think the P4 will run cooler and O/C better than an A64 in a shuttle.

If you want the A64 go for the desktop set up.

If you want SFF go for the P4.

Sorry bout caps, got lazy and left it on, I'm in bed typing, one hand is holding my laptop up so it gets air. Wow, just checked newegg, and I really feel dumb as I thought the XPC was for the Opteron. Thanks for correcting me, well, guess my options just got limited to the one sys. Since I'm not a richman, the sys will be the Intel rig, I'll try to talk her into a faster proc, but a 2.6 will be a good start I think.

No prob... yeah the Intel is a great choise and far more economical that the A64... For ram (i dont know speeds) but dual channel ram is a must for max. preformance. good companies are OCZ, Corsair, Mushkin, Geil,....

The 2.6C also has decent OC potential

Probably shouldn't be OCing much in a shuttle. On folding(all else aside) the p4 is gonna give you the best results especially if you take advantage of the HT.