upgrade confused..help

[j*sus]

I'ts been a while since I built my last rig. (bout a year)

p3-650@728
aopen axbc pro2 - mill. edition
256 mush pc100
geforce 256 ddr
quantum fireball 9gig
Win98se
DVD /powerdvd player
HP burner (8 x 4 x 2 or something)
19" Viewsonic PS790
soundblaster live (mp3 i think)

Anyways...I hadn't planned on upgrading till the summer but my company decided that they wanted all their people to run windows 2000 and to encourage guys with really slow systems (p200mmx or such) to upgrade they are giving all outside support people (like me) $1,000 to upgrade.

Thing is we gotta upgrade in next 30 days or so.

What should I do? Build a new system and give this to my daughter? Help me spend somebody elses money

I was gonna just build a P3-1 gig system with intel prices dropping but I don't know.

 

[bacillus]

have you considered an AMD based system? you'll get a better cpu speed/price ratio compared to an Intel system. the rest of the cash you can use to get top of the line hardware!

 

[j*sus]

I thought about an AMD system but..I was a little wary of AMD and total compatability.

I built my previous system before the T-Bird was available so my experience is Intel vs. AMD pre-T-Bird and I felt better about intel.

I planned to limit my processor/motherboard combo to about $450, I have already bought some Mushkin 133 Hi-performance memory(too good a deal lately).

If I went AMD I need to feel good about stability with the usual set of microsoft programs and the usual games (Quake,etc) as well as the hardware like DVD, and video boards.

I was impressed with the T-birds and the newer 133 AMD boards but was waorried about the various compatability issues I have seen around here.

I wonder if I should just get a p3-850, oc it to @977 and save the motherboard money. But then I have no board for my 650e....:-(

I am willing to give up the performance of a T_bird 1.2gig vs. p3-1gig if there are any hardware/software quirks.

Anymore ideas out there?