Which is better - AMD or P4 chip?

[ChasR]

I have both XP Bartons and P4Cs in DIY computers and can say with certainty that a XP 2800+ is slower (comparing CPU scores on benchmarks like Aquamark3 and 3Dmark2003) than a P4C 2.8.  This is true across the board comparing XPs to P4Cs.  AMD wins handily when comparing the A64s to P4Cs or P4Es.

[Kev367th]

Check my sig, you can guess what I recommend
Plus comparing 2600XP and a P4 2.6, you forgot about price.
For the cost of P4 2.6 533Mhz you can get an 3200XP (400fsb) and still have change left over. Now try comparing the performance!
Or a P4 2.6 800 costs the same as an Athlon 64 2800, AMD still wins!.
So yup you can compare straight clockspeed/rating or more reastically compare the cost of a P4 vs Athlon and see how much more you get with an AMD.
An example would be the top end P4 3.4 800 2Mb EE (Emergency Edition) CPU against top end Athlon 64 FX 53. Not only is the FX53 approx $230 CHEAPER, in ALL gaming benchamrks it totally annihalates the P4.
My advice Meatwad is take whatever money you were thinking of getting a P4 with and get the same/slightly less priced Athlon, be it a 3200XP (400FSB) or a Athlon 64 2800.

P.S. after poo-pooing the Athlon 64 when it was 1st launched, Intel are now going to release their own (inferior by all I've read) 32/64 bit CPU.

[ChasR]

In regard to the cost of the processor, for a truly equivalent comparison of cost you have to put a P4 2.8C  up against a XP 3200+.  The 3200+ runs $187 vs the P4 $182.
Motherboards:
For the XP: A7N8X-E Deluxe $94
For the P4: P4P800-E Deluxe $ 114
So yes, the AMD wins on cost but not by much.

I'll have to look into the A64 performance some more.

I'm comparing what I've got rather than the originally requested 2.6 vs 2600+ but the comparison should scale.

[Kev367th]

Check pricewatch, your AMD price is way to high.
Got the AMD 3200 (400fsb) for 124 (cheapest listed), closest P4 is 2.53GHz Prescott $129 (cheapest listed).

[Eagler]

I run an older 266 mhz fsb asus with amd XP2600 chip, 1 meg of 266 mhz ram and a ATI 9800pro vcard and ah2 runs well with settings on the performance side of the sliders.