I'd say the Pentium 4 system would be better. The Pentium 4 has always been known for insane overclocks, even on the stock heatsink. Secondly, what everyone is telling you is true. The Pentium 4 is better for your uses; I use a Prescott for CAD, video editing, photo editing, gaming, and for homework (of course, my only pc). It runs really well and I've used an Athlon 64 3200+ and I'm quite happy with the Pentium 4, more than I was with the Athlon 64. The my Pentium 4 520 is running at ~3.3 GHz with Kingston DDR2 533 in Dual Channel. Since Pentium 4s are bandwith eaters, I feed them more bandwith. I would definately suggest a Pentium 4 over the Athlon 64 any day. However, for gaming the Athlon 64 is the best choice. However, I don't game enough on my PC to distinguish the gaming performance difference between an Athlon 64 and a Pentium 4. I run an X600Pro flashed to an X600XT and then OCed a little higher (I don't know the exact clock). It runs really well and I can get my work done with no lagging or anything. The Pentium 4 bosts superior performance for your purposes, but if you plan on doing heavy gaming the go for the Athlon 64. I'm an Intel fanboy, but I do give credit to AMD for being the enthusiast's best friend and the end-user's/mid-user's worst enemy. I also give the Pentium 4 credit for being the most well-rounded processor that is fine for an enthusiast, but could be better.