Help choosing please

Hello, fed up with my P3-600 with slow graphics card so looking to buy a new PC with fast 3D.

Basically, what spec system will I need to stay fairly useable for 2-3 years?

1) Am I better with Intels P4 or AMDs Athlons or Athlons64?
2) What speed processor?
3) Do I need a top end graphics card e.g. ATI 9800Pro or would a more cost effective ATI 9600XT be good enough?
4) Any systems you would recommend? (Thinking about Dell Dimension 8300 at the moment)

Would like to hear your opinions.
Marg

I don't want to get too specific, because that's really down to personal preference. 50 people will say Intel, 50 will say AMD. 50 will say ATI, 50 will say Nvidia.

So generally, if you want your machine to be fairly usable in 2-3 years, you're really looking at top end hardware now. CPU's are reaching something of a plateau, so you need not get the very fastest there, but videocards are still moving along fast, so you'll want the best you can afford. I would also recommend getting as much ram as you can afford, because it's the most cost-effective upgrade you can buy.

I don't recommend buying any prebuilt PC. I recommend finding a local shop or an online store that will let you design a PC to your own specifications and build it for you. ( That's assuming you're not confident enough to buy the components and build it yourself. )

If you can't afford a top-of-the-line graphics card, get one that was top-of-the-line last year, not the "economy" version of this year's top card. It may not have all the pixel shader features (which Blitz doesn't support anyway), but it'll be WAY faster.

I would go for a minimum 2.4GHz P4 or a 2400+ AMD and something like a Radeon 9600XT or a 9800 if you can afford it.