I want to upgrade from a Pentium 2 350hz to either a Pentium 4 or ideally an Athlon (roundabout 1.5Gz give or take a bit)
Either way I will need a new mother board, but if I want to fit one to suit an Athlon processor will it physically fit in my casing. (Do I need an adaptor plate to suit the different mountings.)
Also, if you have any preferences between P4 and Athlon then I would be glad to here them, but I am edging toward an Athlon due to price, (alledged) better performance and reliability)

Cheers,

Garyb

Have you checked your motherboards max processor speed. I own an epox which said p2 450 in the manual but p3 750 online because they weren't out yet. This would be the cheapest and easiest way for about $120

If the case has sony, hp, compaq, or some BRAND on it then the case is specialized to that motherboard and you'll net a new case.
Generic cases are Boxy in look.

You may want to buy a tower case with a good power supply to make everything easier to assemble.
P4s have tighter power supply specs so you have to get a more specific one just like athlons want a 300 watt or better power supply.

Athlons may have trouble with capture cards and sound cards. They are not 100% compatable but close enough for the general population.
Make sure to put thermal paste inbetween the processor and fan and make sure the fan assembly is tight against the cpu. This will eliminate overheating of these processors.

The two best athalon motherboards I have come across are Abit's KR7A-Raid and Iwill XP333-Raid. I normally don't care for Iwill products but I happen to have that one and it has been a good board so far. This board has the latest in technologies over any other board I have come across. I also got it at Fry's Electronics for $120 which is very cheap for a board with everything that it has on it. You can look up the specs at both websites and decide which you like better. Both are standard ATX and support the older Athalons as well as the new Athalon XP's. As far as P4's are concerned, I used to only buy Intel CPU's and I swore by them. But ever since CPU's have hit the 1 GHz mark, AMD has been beating Intel in both cost and performance. I keep wanting to justify buying a P4 but everytime I keep looking at performance comparisons, I have to keep changing my mind.

AMD HAS THE SUPEROR CORE ARCHITECRURE ALSO A 1.5GHZ AMD PROC CAN PERFORM ON PAR WITH A 2GHZ INTEL. INTEL MARKETS BY FREQUENCY (GHZ) CAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON IS ILLITERATE IN PC TECH KNOWLEDGE THIS MEANS THEY DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE THEY JUST WANT YOUR MONEY (HENCE THEY ARE EXSPENSIVE) AMD CARES THEY WANT THERE AVERAGE USER TO GET AWSOME PERFORMANCE AND THEY DELEIVER IT. ONLY BUY AND INTEL IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO AUDIO AND MP3 RIPPING. I HAVE TO GIVE INTEL A PEICE OF CREDIT THOUGH THERE COMMERCIALS ARE BETTER THEN AMD (AMD DON'T NEED ANY)