New Dual CPU System?

[Annuka]

I am in a great position, as my employer have granted me $3,300 for a new home computer :) But I have a very hard time putting together a reasonable configuration.

I am aiming for 2 processors, 512 Mb ram and a small SCSI disk.
It must be way faster than my current 2 year old Dual P3-450 MHz.
It must also be possible to make the computer very silent.
I would prefer not to use all the money on the computer, as I desire some external stuff too.

I see these combinations:

- Dual P3 Coppermine - very little gain
- Dual P3 Tualtin - does dual mainboards exist?
- Dual P4 Xeon - mainboard cost $1500 :(
- Dual Athlon - ?

Please help me decide.

[da franksta]

here's my $0.02:
dual p3 is not powerful enough. remember most programs aren't multiprocessor aware, in which case you "only" have a p3.

dual p4 is great if you can afford it. it's really fast and, because of the small core and (relatively) low power usage, not too hot. this way you can ease up on the cooling and your pc doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner. most people will think it's too expensive, though.

dual athlon has great performance. i myself am rather happy with my system. it's fast and it's not too expensive. an athlon tends to get hot, go figure what two of them will do. therefore, it's more difficult to get your pc silent. still, there are people who've done a good job.

if you want to find out more, check out the http://forums.2cpu.com

cheers :)