I'm trying to decide between dual Athlon or dual P3 1u server with IDE RAID. Here's what I figured so far and I need your help to make the final decision:

Dual Athlon pros: faster than P3s, cheaper than P3s, motherboard supports faster DDR memory;
Dual Athlon cons: higher power consumtion (needs more fans, more powerful power supply --> cost increase), no motherboards with integrated IDE RAID support available, motherboards are more expensive;

Dual P3 pros: cheaper motherboards with integrated IDE RAID support, lower power consumption;
Dual P3 cons: slower than Athlons, more expensive than Athlons, only PC133 memory support;

Did I miss anything?

For servers, I personally say stick with Intel. I don't know if I agree about the Athlon being faster (MHz for MHz), but I know Athlons do tend to suck power. In something as small as 1U, I'd definately go PIII on the heat factor alone. I can't imagine two Athlons in a case just under 2" tall -- an Athlon consumes more power (and thus produces more heat) than a medium duty soldering iron ;)

Just imagine a rack full of those... anyway I've personally seen Athlon systems lock up from over-heating (I think this was more a problem in the first 800 MHz models, but it's still an issue as far as I know).

Another thing to consider.

The MP Athlon processors are supposed to be based on the technology the mobile athlon processors use (less power = less heat..). They aren't the same (Or so I've heard) as the normal T-Bird processors.

I'd do some more research to see exaclty what the power requirements of each are. I think the above poster was referring to what the 'normal' athlons are. And yes, he is correct. The normal processors could act as miniature heaters during winter.

I should have mentioned that I haven't messed with the Athlons in the last year or so -- since the time of the Athlon 800 I mentioned above. You are correct that I'm referring to the original Athlons, not the MP or mobile ones, as I have no experience with those.

Something interesting I remember was an Athlon 1 GHz machine being sold at a local computer shop (almost 2 years ago I think). It was basically an 800 overclocked, and it had a refridgerator-cooler thing on it. Everyone thought it was the neatest thing, but it was just way too much money (and looked tacky IMO)... guess that's the price you pay for bleeding-edge...

Of course, the thing locked up while playing Unreal Tournament... needless to say they never sold it.

i use both intel and amd processors. lately i have been using intel more though because they have been cheaper then amd. isnt that a shocker?