AMD with an nForce3 chipset. Excellent combination, best bang for your buck. I gave Intel a chance, but they just plain suck. They overheat terribly without giving back enough capability to justify risking the meltdown of your motherboard, making them generally not worth it in the end. AMD makes really reliable processors, and it's been proven time and time again. For example, I used to visit a LAN gaming center whenever I was bored, and they used all AMD computers. I can't ever recall any of them ever failing at any time; they were definitely the most rugged, reliable machines I had ever worked with. Same thing applied in reverse for LAN gaming places which used Intel: constant machine failures, repair and replacement costs going through-the-roof, etc etc. Not an appealing image.