AMD2600, Celeron 2.66 or P4 2.9?

[OM]

I want to buy a new PC.
I've almost given up trying to fix my last one.

Can someone recommend which I should go for:

AMD2600 (£210), Celeron 2.66 (£250) or P4 2.9 (£345)?

Each of the above costs slightly more than its previous in the list,
starting with the AMD.

How much faster is each model over the other?

Given the prices, which is the best value for money?
(All are standard and basic models with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disks.)

Thanks.

OM

 

[guestuser]

The machine with the AMD processor is the best value. Spend the 135 pounds
difference between the AMD and the P4 on more memory, about 512 MB total
will do nicely. Do not purchase any computer with a Celeron processor. If
you think you need more raw processor speed then go for the AMD 2800 + or
3000 +. These sell for about $130 to $160, retail.

Consider a system with a dedicated graphics card with at least 64 MB of
on-board memory, 128 MB is even better. A digital output from that card for
your new LCD display would be nice, too. Look for hard drives with
rotational speeds of at least 7200 rpm. Dual optical drives are a must for
disk-to-disk copying.

I want to buy a new PC.
I've almost given up trying to fix my last one.

Can someone recommend which I should go for:

AMD2600 (£210), Celeron 2.66 (£250) or P4 2.9 (£345)?

Each of the above costs slightly more than its previous in the list,
starting with the AMD.

How much faster is each model over the other?

Given the prices, which is the best value for money?
(All are standard and basic models with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disks.)

Thanks.

OM

 

[Guest]

Have a look at other CPU comparisons:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030623/p4_3200-02.html