Don't get confused... if you really want an athlon go for it. A 2200+ will cost approx: $155 from a good retailer. On the other hand a pentium 4 2.26GHz/533 will only run $195.
While I currently have an athlon, I'd take that pentium 4! The higher memory throughput, whether it be with DDR400 or RAMBUS PC1066 will likely offer a better performaning system. Ultimately the PC1066 would offer the best performance, since it would use all of the pentiums available bandwidth potential. A stick of 512MB of good quality PC3200 (DDR 400) will run ya as little as $170 from a reputable retailer. On the other hand two 256MB sticks of PC1066 will only run about $240 (total/$120 ea.). I say only, because that is considerly cheap than what it used to be
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The P4 system with the PC1066 would be my choice, and it leaves you with plenty of overclocking overhead if you decide to do so at a later date. The P4 NW overclocks considerably well, much better than the 2200A chips. Barely even trying, I'd bump the FSB to 142 and get a 2.4GHz processor - with stock cooling easily sufficing.
But if you have a tight budget and the extra $125 is too much for better performance, then I would get an AXP 2200 with some PC2700.
The 2400+ should be, and hopefully will be available by the end of this month, for the sake of AMD's reputation! The 2400+ will only offer a slight performance increase over the 2200+ running at 2GHz, but when they do come out expect a decent demand and possibly low supply meaning the already higher price for a newly released chip might even be pushed a bit higher by demands, and as well intel is said to have a price cut coming near the end of the month, most likely coinciding with any amd launch, keeping the prices comparable.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by nja469 on 09/10/02 05:13 PM.</EM></FONT></P>