Hello people, how have you been?
I've been away from Posetteforever a little because of some problems,
first an office of my ISP in Buenos Aires set in fire and the service was bad for sometime, then my PC have some problems and I had to send it to technical service, and decided I have to buy a new one (she is very old an AMD Duron 700 mhz, 512 mb ram, an NVidia Riva TNT2 video card 32 mb), so I will spend some savings in this, the problem is in this country all this stuff is very expensive and I must try to do a good  choice for my new computer gives me a long time of service.
My main problem is about the CPU, I see in the catalog this 2 options:
AMD Sempron 3000 BOX, and INTEL Pentium 4 2.4 GB BOX, their prices are allmost the same, but I don't know the diferences, or wich one is better, and maybe somebody here could give me some advice.

Thanks che!

Welcome back!  I wish that I could help you.  I have used both brands of processors. However, the newest ones that I have experience with are much older than those you are considering.  This is a question for Landman, he is much more experienced with the more modern hardware.

Pangor

What kind of a question for Landman he is much more experienced with the more modern hardware is it?

____________
I won the Loebner prize !

I changed my PC some months ago and also I built a barebone (little case) Pc to use it as a dvd/dvx player and sat receiver some times ago.
First I tried an AMD 3000 like the one you are planning to use, I've to say that I still don't understand how are named the last class of AMD processor, because "3000" doesn't stand for "3ghz" and it is about 2.4 ghz even if reading the forum dedicated to this kind of things it seems that it's faster. In any case I got confused, and the system had some problems with windows xp (frequent shutoffs without notice, but maybe it could be some trimming faults from me), and because I wanted a true 3.0 ghz cpu I decided to go to the safest solution, even because I were not very deep in knowing the last features of the cpu/motherboards and so on and bought a Pentium 3 3.0 ghz and Asus motherboard that is what I'm using just now. The combination motherboard/cpu with Intel is more simple and easier for newbie (like me...) because they are more software controlled by the bios and I had not to change a lot of jumpers. The processors you are planning to buy should have the same performance, what I can suggest to you is to spend more money on a very good VGA card, like an ATI Radeon 9800 (I have it) or one of the last NVIDIA card, with a minimum of 256 mb of memory. I understood that while using graphic programs (or games   ) the video card is the most important thing. The rest of the equipment is not mandatory as far as I know so buy the cheapest thing you find, buy a good 400mhz module, I've 1 gb of Ram but with 512 mb you're ok and keep in mind that the last cpus and video card processors produces a lot of heat. If you don't plan to overclock some components the normal fans are ok but I suggest you to keep the case of the pc opened or if you cannot buy some good aftermarket fan (they are not too expensive) and add some of them to the case.
Talking about video cards I experienced the different load of heath on the cpu with a poor card and with a good card. During a render with the old card the cpu heat raised a lot, sometimes the PC shutted down for protection against heat. With the new one The cpu stays almost cool while the video card processor raises the heat but it seems less critical.
If you plan to build the PC from scratch you'll save some money and search the best thing that you need, the already made PC usually have only some components that are very good, for example they sell them with a monster cpu but only with the standard onboard video card... I don't know if in Argentina there is ebay, in any case you can consider buying an used case (I bought mine on ebay) eventually changing the power supply which is the critical component of them (they are not too much expensive). I suggest you not to buy an used hd and to point a fan on the hd itself into the case because the last hard disk types spread a lot of heat too and I think that sooner or later it would be a cause for some tragic failure and loss of a lot of Poser work... I've a fan pointed on hit and it's almost cool all the time. I prefer a desktop case instead of a middle tower because I can put my hands into it more easily...
If you have to put the CPU into the motherboard yourself remember to use  a good conductive-paste between the processor and the fan. Putting the cpu into the motherboard it's very easy and you can't do the wrong thing if you're not very, very noob...
I hope that I helped you (or maybe added some more confusion   ... lol )

____________

Thank you guys, and yes Tormentor you helped me a lot, this is what I have in mind by now:
H.Disk 80 Gb serial ATA.
Video Card nVidia Gforce FX5500 256 8x
Memory DDR 512 Mb/400 (I'm counting the coins to see if its posible a 1024 mb one)  
Microp. Intel Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz Box (the 3 or 3.2 Ghz becomes very expensive   )
A friend of mine will do the work and buy the components for me he sayed I must chose the components then chose the motherboard that will be an asus.
I could save some money if I change the Video card by and Gforce Fx5200 128 Mb but I want the 256 one. and I know I must spend some money in good fans for allmost everyting with 42º C in the shadow in summer I need them

Thanks again che!

AMD was ment for gaming. Pentium was for office applications. If you are not going to use animation or go heavy on the screen resolution of the picture when you render I would stick with P4. I have had 6 PC in my life and I have always stuck with the P class.  Anything 2 Ghz and above is fine. Front side bus you should have about 800 and better for speed. 512 Mb is good for rendering. VGA card would be ATI or Gforce both 256mb card. DVD dual lace writer for animation. If no animation the a cd burner is fine. Most PC will stand up to Poser applications these days. I have two top of the line Sony Vaios and simply love them. I hope this helps you in some way.

And if I AM going to use animation or go heavy on the screen resolution of the picture when you render he or she would stick with P4. Tell me about them.

____________
I won the Loebner prize !

Hi rayera, the new pentium 4 have the 775 socket, the older one has the 478 socket but there is the new pentium 4 celeron d (prescott) with the 478 socket that works great if you want to save some money. I bought a 2.6 ghz one to my brother and it works great. They are marked "celeron D" and they need a recent motherboard that support the 533mhz fsb (if you put it into an older motherboad it simply doesn't work) and I can assure you that the performance is the same of a 775 socket and probably you save money.
I have the same card (nvidia) for my brother, it works fine for Poser but it's not high performance for gaming, I mean that you have to reduce the resolution if compared wit an ATI Radeon in order to play smoothly. For the moemory don't worry, you can buy another module in the future if it's not enough... The SATA choice is very good   !! As I told here some times ago I found a 250 GB S-ATA hard disk into the case I bought on ebay       ... An unexpected gift   ! 80 Gb are ok if you don't plan to fill it with useless things like I use to do   . I use to buy a new hd istead of cleaning the place   ...
I'm sorry that we are so far, I don't know if the prices are different here and there otherwise I could buy the parts and send them to you, but out of the european union they will be taxed at their arrival there...
Don't worry for the speed, 2.4 Ghz are enough, all up to 2.0 ghz works fine.

P.S. on ebay a 2.4 celeron D costs 55 US dollars + mail costs (new)

____________

When did you stop it?

____________
I won the Loebner prize !

Ok, Ok, I'll stop it  

____________

I have two computers at home, one with an AMD, the other with a Pentium, and at work, all of our computers use Pentiums.  Personally, either processor is fine, though the AMD is so much less expensive - at least here in the United States.  But what's really going to give you more bang for your buck is how much RAM you have installed . . .

Thanks a lot people, you are very helpful!!!!  

You are quite welcome!               How about that.

____________
I won the Loebner prize !

All very interesting.  Good information for the day when my 400 Mhz workstation is ready to become a headless server to make room for a newer workstation.

Pangor