Cyn said:
Also, I'm pretty sure that the FSB offers a huge performance increase in many games and multimedia apps.
A64s don't have an "FSB," per se, they have a Hyper Transport.
To clarify, the front side bus is traditionally the link between the northbridge and processor. The northbridge is responsible for talking to the memory, AGP slot and southbridge, and the information is relayed to the processor through the FSB. With Pentium 4s, for example, the FSB runs at an actual 200MHz and transfers data four times per tick, so you get an "effective" 800MHz with a total bandwidth capacity of 6400MB/s (800MHz * 8b/s). This is necessary, since that's the maximum amount of bandwidth dual-channel PC3200 RAM can supply (PC3200 = 3200MB/s, two channels = 3200*2). Unfortunately since data from the entire system has to be squeezed through there, actual memory bandwidth never hits maximum capacity.
With Athlon64s (and all K8 chips), the memory controller is integrated to the processor, so you get a direct 6400MB/s link between the CPU and DIMM slots with nothing in-between. The processor still has to talk to the rest of the system, though, which is where Hypertransport comes in. HT runs at 800MHz or 1000MHz and transfers 8 bytes of data per clock tick, so you get an additional 6400MB/s or 8000MB/s link to the chipset which deals with just the I/O (AGP/PCIe, storage, ethernet, USB, and so on). Basically, the A64 cuts the middle man by integrating northbridge functionality into the processor.
Note that VIA K8T800/K8T890 systems still integrate a "northbridge", which is really just a HT bridge that talks to the AGP/PCIe and links to the southbridge which talks to the rest of the I/O. nForce 3/4 systems use a single-chip that links the I/O and processor directly.
Edit: Oh, and to clarify even further, the "200MHz" clockspeed you play with when overclocking A64 systems is just the clock generator. It controls the memory, processor speed and HyperTransport speed through a divider and multipliers respectively. With a 3200+ Venice system for instance you'd have a 200MHz clock generator with a 1:1 memory ratio by default, 10x processor multiplier and 5x HT multiplier.
I feel that if someone is going to spend $500+ dollars on an upgrade right now they may as well go with a 64 bit CPU because the price difference is almost none and the older hardware will most definitely phase out even before this does.
I honeslty can't see the 32 bit architecture going anywhere soon. Current software/OS/hardware trends don't show this even being close to happening.
I do agree with you though, and would definitely go A64. I actually plan on upgrading to a nice 939 this summer, but my budget isn't as limiting as the OP's.
Edit: And my OC'd 2600 and 6800 Ultra run every game I play at full FPS and 1680 x 1050 res.
Cyn said:
Oh and dude. Did you just post your real name on those benches? Just pointing that out.
Thanks for pointing that out.

One of the domain names I use for images and such contains my first name as well, I'm not too worried about a first name.