new system comparison - barton or A64

hello i'm building a new basic raw system and i was thinking of this:

mobo : Albatron KM18G Pro DCh400/Video+TV+AGP8x/5.1/lan
cpu : AMD Athlon XP 2600PR 512K Barton Box
hd : Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120 Gb ATA133
ram : Geil Value 512 Mb CL2.5-3-3-6 c/disipador
tower: Vitsuba C 450W Negro 3fan 4e 5¼/2e-4i 3½ USB
total U$s 584

or extra U$s 78 to jump to an A64 system, although i would need a video card here:


mobo : Albatron K8X800/FSB800/DDR400/SATA/5.1/Lan
cpu : AMD Athlon64 2800+ 512K NewCastle Box
hd : Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80 Gb ATA133
ram : Geil Value 512 Mb CL2.5-3-3-6 c/disipador
tower: Vitsuba C 450W Negro 3fan 4e 5¼/2e-4i 3½ USB

total U$s 662

So to sum it up, i can choose between athlon xp with nforce2 mobo or A64 with VIA based mobo. What do you think is better and more reliable?

Is there a really noticeable difference between the two options? i'm using it for 3d applications, animation,photoshop.


Are there A64 mobos with onboard video?

Performance difference xp to A64 = 10 to 15%. 2600 to 2800 = 10%. 20 to 25% for 15% more money (not including future A64 benefits) seems good to me.