memory brandwith is the most important thing. in the last years processor speeds have increased extreamly, but in relation, merory brandwith has not. intel may be solid workhors, thats outa discussion, but amd is cheaper for the same performance and the only reason to go for intel, imho, is rdram, but it´s so fu+*!n´ expensive that it´s outa discussion for me too, i´m going for a new amd system now with abit kr7a and 256 megs ddr ram, i think thats a good joice for a gamer.