I use almost exclusively AMD K6-2 (3D) CPU's right now because of the high performance to cost ratio. These chips occasionally have minor quirks to deal with. For example, Windows 95 will need a patch (www.amd.com) for K6-2 chips over 300 MHz to avoid a startup protection fault error. Some software installations may require a manufacturer patch or simple workaround. For the most part the chips are painless and dirt cheap for the performance they yield. Beware the Via chipsets with Windows 95, they can be flaky (fine with Win98, though). I have not encountered any case of an AMD K6-2 chip flat out not running software. Some software will be optimized for Intel P-II API's and not for AMD K6-2/3D (which hits the AMD performance for that app.), but most new games are coming out with the AMD API's (thanks to some of the major computer companies offering AMD alternatives). The Cyrix chips are super cheap and relatively slow, and may run in to frequent installation glitches (although again the fixes are simple generally). The key here is Cyrix doesn't offer as fast of chips as AMD, and AMD doesn't offer as fast as Intel...so for top end you HAVE to go Intel (first to the market so far since the days of the Commodores). In my opinion, for a given dollar value, the average user will get a lot more from the K6-2 option. Now, if you are talking overclocked or dual motherboard, the story changes... Wanna buy my used Cyrix P166+ dirt cheap? Martin Kurr email [log in to unmask] > ---------- > From: Setyo Nugroho[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Subject: [PCBUILD] Non - Intel processor based PC > Does anybody have experience in using non-Intel Pentium processor based > PCs > (e.g: AMD K6, K6-2 3D, IBM M6, M7)? > Are non-Intel processors reliable and fully compatible with Intel's? > Can they work well with all operating system and software designed based > on > Intel's machine language? > > > Thanks, > Setyo Nugroho > > The PCBUILD web site always needs good submissions. If > you would like to contribute to the website, send any > hardware tech tips or hardware reviews to: > [log in to unmask] > Curious about the people moderating your messages? Visit our staff web site: http://nospin.com/pc/staff.html