Computer savvy DUers: Pentium D or Pentium 4 HT?

[expatriot]

I have not been keeping up on computer tech for the past couple of years. I am now in the market for a new computer... I am researching Pentium D's and Pentium 4 HT's. All else being equal and you had to choose between the Pentium D 2.80 GHz or a Pentium 4 w/ HT Tech (3.0/3.2/3.4), what would you choose. Sorry, no "Other." If you have some caveat or disclaimer, please choose the one you'd choose if everything else was "standard" (I have a feeling the answer depends on how much Memory you have. Let's say you have 1 GGB Dual Channel @ 533 MHz


(I am very much interested in running multiple multimedia/editor programs at once and with very large files along with various other smaller programs).


on edit: here is what I want: a Dimension E510 for 549... I am going increase memory to at least 1 GB, perhaps 2.... bonus question: Is the jump from 1 to 2 worth it? or perhaps 3? 4?

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/sna.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~topic=dod

[Deja Q]

1. Athlon64.

HT technology (HyperThreading, not related to how fun I am in bed) is known to be detrimental to applications that don't make use of it.

And HT has XP seeing it as a 2 processor system when that's not true. (by now they probably made a patch so SMP with P4-HT CPUs can be done without paying microsoft more money for it...)

It's great for photoshop... but that's about it.

[expatriot]

2. okay, since I really want it for running the Macromedia Suite programs

(Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Flash) simultaneously, it would be for me. But wouldn't the D be the best? The central question is at what clockspeed must a hyperthreaded single processor be before it has better performance than a dual-core processor at clockspeed x (in this case, 2.80)