What are the best deals on these two right now for the money? I had a Cyrix but I want something faster now. Thanks in advance.

Check Price Watch.

No matter where you go to buy the chip, Intel P4 processors will almost always be more expensive than an Athlon XP chip. The XP1800 processor can be had *WITH* a new mainboard for around $130 at Pricewatch.

If you're upgrading from a Cyrix 400 - 750 Mhz. system, you'll need to get a new mobo as well. Same applies if you're switching over to a P4. Keep in mind though, speed doesn't come just from a faster chip. For optimum results, you'd also want fast memory and a fast drive. If you're a gamer, you'd definitely want a new, faster display adapter (video card) too.
But like I always say ...

Hey Intel, AMD rulez!

The best of those 2 for money is AMD XP, but hey you know that P4 2.8Ghz is out now P4 2.53 is bout $300. Get a asus P4T 533-C and 512RDRAM (533Mhz or PC1066), your system is flying. I don't really like AMD beside they overheat, just check the fourm for CPUs/Overclocking you will see a lot of posts bout overheating.

My friends has this proccessor and his temp. will never go above 35C degree. Only if you don't overclock tho. + you can easily overclock this monster to 3.0Ghz+

~Death-Knight~

AMD AMD. Everyone says intel is more stable.
My AMD Duron is rock solid. BTW an P3 667 (from my mother) is very unstable. I think it is cheap ram/motherboard.

Go for Elitegroup + AMD Duron/Athlon XP.
Also buy an Coolermaster DP5-7H53F-0L Silent.
My PC has 256 Megs DDR (Major 3rd).
It's a fine system. If you use photoshop and all the stuff to edit videos of photo's. Take 512MB.

Well, Everyone says intel is more stable.
That's not true. Not everyone says that.

AMD Rulez...

I've just moved from a P3 800hmz to an Athlon 2000XP and I think my system is MORE stable than under the Intel processor.

Heat isn't a problem as long as you have a good h/sink and a couple of case fans.

(just check ma name) but heres the system you should buy
Athlon XP2000+ from newegg.com (it will be green and be an agoia stepping almost for sure very very good oc'ers)
Abit KX7-333
256Mb Samsung PC-2700 ram
enermax 400 watt psu
volcano 7+ hsf
Leadtek or MSI Geforce 4 ti 4400
Lian-Li PC-65usb case w/blue cold cathode
pcmods fanbus
4 blue led 52.6 cfm case fans

all that and you'll have one heck of a system, take my word for it cause thats what ive got ;)

Hey Death-Knight,

I don't know - maybe it's just me, but when I look at all of the heat related posts, they're mostly by people who are thinking of overclocking,wanting to do this correctly - or they're by people who don't know whats associated with causes of heat problems - and want to learn more. Yes, there are a *FEW* posts about heat related issues with the chip, but when you read those, you quickly find out that most of them are about problems that could and probably are just as easily related to faulty OS installs, hard disk/mobo/ata compatibility issues, and memory problems that are causing instability. Some of the questions are related to weak power supplies too.

I love AMD chips, have overclocked many of them, and have NEVER had an overheating problem or a chip burn out, due to overheating. It's all a matter of doing some homework, and using proper (cheap) cooling hardware on the computer. Oh, and by the way, I have *NEVER* spent more than $12 bucks on any fan/heatsink for a computer that I built. Even those which I've overclocked up to 15 percent. Many of those $20+ overpriced monsters are STRICTLY designed for overclocking, and not the average computer user.

Shop around for a quality heatsink/fan combo at less than $15 (ebay works), and then pick up two or three additional case fans for around $3 bucks each - along with having at least a mid-tower case with a 350 to 400 Watt power supply, should serve you just fine, while permitting you to do some general overclocking (nothing radical) that'll still keep your system completely stable, and cool enough.

The two main things to rmeember are - to follow directions and do everything correctly during the fan/heatsink setup, and that AMD chips run quite a bit hotter by design, meaning that you shouldn't freak out whne your buddies P3 or P4 system runs much cooler. THAT'S NORMAL !!!

Hey Intel, AMD rulez!

AMD is the best deal for the money and they are stable My 1800+ system outperforms my P4 1.8 and is way more stable .Yea the P4 runs about 105F and the AMD runs about 140-145F big deal.
AMD RULES

AMD! I just got a 2100+ for $122 and you can ask anyone who has ever owned both an AMD XP and a P4 processor which they prefer and they will tell you that Athlon XP's run so much better than P4's!

Ask anyone? I'm replying from an Athlon 1700+ (it even runs at 44C} and I like my P4 1.8GHZ better because it's faster than the Athlon XP 1700+. The only reason I'm not running the P4 now is because I don't have a power supply for it. There are plenty of people that have tried both and still prefer Intel P4 over the Athlon XP. And although AMD is cheaper, there is always the old saying "you get what you pay for".