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If you have a lot of cash to throw around, you might consider dual Athalon MPs. If you use more than one software synth at a go while previewing music, this will help. The problem with hyperthreading is that the virtual CPU can get starved, and almost never reaches its peak as with a real second CPU. Tomshardware.com did a side by side comparison with a 3.6 gHz P4 and a 3.0 P4 with Hyperthreading enabled. The real-world multitasking results were pretty heavily in favor of HT technology, while the benchmarks/games often sided with the faster chip.
As for RDRAM, it's going to be pretty scarce soon. With DDR2 on the way and 400mHz memory already avaialble, the performance gap is narrowing considerably. The VIA KT400 chipset is out, though it doesn't "officially" support the 400mHz memory setting yet. The reviewers also claimed that stability took a nosedive with 400mHz DDR, but there was no real indication of that was a chipset or a memory thing.
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