We just ordered a new thunderous-spec PC for our rendering. You can have a dual Pentium3 maxed at 1000MHz, a single P4 (I think you can only get a single, might be getting mixed up), or a single Athlon.
Obviously 3 things make the difference, your board, your processor and your RAM. Athlon have already introduced their equivalent of Pentiums top-rated RAM, so that's no longer an issue. Athlon and Pentium IMHO have recently been virtually neck-and-neck in the processor war, so that is no longer an issue. However, Athlon does not support dual-processing at present (sorry, I think I said they were bringing out a processor, I meant mainboard, doh!) but they will be soon. I think the guy said it would be available in the next couple of months.
If your wondering about buying a Pentium or an Athlon, I'm possibly not the best person to ask, but the most recent computer I've bought (for home-use) is a 750 Athlon and it works like a dream, with no usability complications. As soon as the dual-processor support comes out we'll be turning our backs on Pentium altogether.
The great thing about Athlon is that you stump up the cash for the mainboard, and processor upgrades are cheap. However, with Pentium, the mainboards are cheap THEN you pay through the nose for the processor. As far as I'm concerned this logic doesn't work in a world where new processors come out every few months, hence my affair with Athlons.
Sorry for the typo.
dave
dave@pinkzeppelin.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^