Athlon 64 worth it? or another athlon xp?

I just recently parted with my AthlonXP 2100+ system on NF7-S. that thing was damn impressive for what it cost. 2500 mhz with a new antec psu was just the beginning, and if i didnt need money at the time, no damn way i would sell that pc....
right now, the machine in my sig holds me here. cant complain, it was free.

This summer, or possibly sooner, not sure when ill have the money really, I want to build a new machine and im collecting as much information as i can right now on parts i should look into.
Im half considering build a p4 build around a IC7-Max3. its a wicked overkill board for what i relaly need in my computer, but it has those features that are there IF i ever want to use them. raid and the like. its also a nice looking board. i go to lan's and i like to show off what i have been up to ^^;;.

On the other hand, trying to start a thread to debate the qualities of intel vs amd is quite a pointless endevour, since in the end it just tuns into a fanboy bashing fest. one side adimently tries to defend the honor of his/her platform, same with the other. The last thing i really want is a bunch of people trying desperatly to defend the money they spent ha ha ha.

I am more than Happy to buy the exact same system i had before. I would probably get a barton 2600m though. they seem to be the better ocers. but it was the flexability of nforce that i liked so much. i could run my system at 2000 mhz stock vcore, and enjoy the silence, or, bump up the multi to 12.5, and enjoy 2500 mhz for games. all without changing my 200 mhz fsb.
It is hard to pass up this kind of flexability. with a p4, i would have only the fsb to oc with, which woudl demand the best possible ram, another issue, since bh5 ram is no longer available.

Sooooo, in the end of all this indecisive thought and ranting, I have given thought to picking up an athlon 64 instead. It would perform better than my athlon xp did, and probably in the range of a p4 3 ghz if not a little better, at the same price.

Mainly, i want my machine to play games of course, but i spend a lot of time working on professional 2d/3d graphics too. My athlon did this very well so i know i wont get any worse with a new box.

I have totally ruled out the chance of getting a socket 940.. the fx chips are like.. $1100 here in canada. that just is not worth it to get a unlocked multiplier. if i can get a good 754 and oc it with some decent ram, im all for that. which brings me to the choice of motherboards.
the nforce 3 150 seems to be a pretty widspread build, but the k8t800 appears to be faster does it not? which chipset would be better for a gaming machine do you guys think?
im tempted to pick up a K8V xxxx but im a little afraid of via now, after the experience i had with the kt 400 and agp 8x.

i just wonder if it is worth it... this summer, the prices on all the older athlon xp stuff will be way down. i will be able to replace my nf7 for like $120 cdn and get a good mobile barton for about that as well. add in some good pc 3500 memory and i still have enough to buy a r9800 xt for the cost of a good athlon 64 or intel platform.
Money is a little bit of a concern, as i want to build a water rig for my lanboy too. but i just want to get value out of my choices. I have had the supreme oc results already, now i just want somthing fast and reliable that i can oc if i want to,but it isnt the #1 selling point as it was with my nf7 platform.

Well I'm in this same situation as I just fried my DFI/XP system. I burned up the motherboard and the CPU so I have a big upgrade coming. I figure since I'm going to replace the key parts I might as well go to the next level.

While the XP system I had kept up with and even passed some computers these days in speed and power it was still a very outdated machine. Soon it would be almost obsolete imo. I mean think about: When 64bit games and other apps come out aren't you going to want to upgrade then anyways? I know for damn sure I don't want to be unable to play the newest games to their max potential when they come out so I plan on going for the A64 upgrade myself. I am however waiting for the nForce 250GB motherboards to be released before upgrading. Also I plan on going for the mobile A64 instead of a normal in hoping they are like the XP mobiles but thats just me.

Im a little unsure about the nforce 3 250.. it makes up some ground over the 150, but the k8t800 is still faster in some respects. the only complaint i would have with the via chipset, is their implimentation of the southbridge and putting absolutly EVERYTHING on it. this was somthing that my athlon died a horrible death with. downloading big files at high speeds, listening to music and playing ro or hell, even just running firefox. system would die so bad. Im thinking of getting a p4 just to have csa lan heh. for the amount of network traffic this pc ALWAYS has.

I dont know. i would like the technology to mature a little more. ill have to wait and see.