Pentium D or Xeon for Gaming?

[desk003]

I'm in the market for a new gaming machine that I'd like to last at least 4 years. I use OS X for my main os and XP for gaming on a seperate machine.

I'd like to spend less than $2100, which I can do with a base model of Mac Pro (2Ghz Dual Xeon Dual-Core, 1gb mem, 250gb hd, nVidia geforce 7300 gt 256mb) (and edu discount, I'm a student)..
Or I can go with a Dell for $1800, (Pentium D 940 Dual Core 3.20Ghz, 1gb mem, 250gb hd, 256mb nVidia geforce 7900GS)

[EDIT: Or, Gateway has a system for $1640, (Pentium D Dual Core 3.20ghz, 2gb memory, 320gb hd, Nvidia 7800GTX 256mb]

Mainly I wanna know which processor (Pentium D 940 dual core @ 3.2ghz or Dual Xeons w/ dual core @ 2ghz) would be best, since the rest of the system is pretty much the same.

I'd like to go with the Mac Pro, but I'm not sure how the Xeon stacks up to the Pentium D for this, since games only usually use one thread, they cant take advantage of either's dual (or quad) core technology.

Obviously the Mac Pro would have windows installed on a partition for games.
Which would give me the most future-proofness? I don't care how much it costs now, as long as it's less than $2100. Thanks

 

[hennethannun]

xeon is better than pentium D (xeon is server version of core 2 duo)

dual core processing is good for a few games now and more games going foward.

gateway system would be best for gaming...

why not build your own system. for $2100 you could have a system much better than any of the ones mention...

 

[Aluvus]

The Mac Pro would need a video card upgrade to be a decent gaming machine right now, much less 4 years from now. It'll also need FB-DIMM memory when you decide to upgrade that, which will cost more.

It seems to me the best option you have is neither Pentium D nor Xeon, but Core 2. OEM systems (Dell, etc.) are starting to trickle out (Dell has a $2.3k XPS 700, but nothing else I know of) or you could build your own.

In any case, you would probably be best served by saving around $500 or so of your budget and putting it into something that earns decent interest. Then later, use it to fund some upgrades.

 

[desk003]

Hmm, I figured it'd cost me more to build a system. Usually use Newegg to get my parts, any suggestions other than them? What internals would you suggest? You guys know more than I do, I've built a few systems, but this would be my first one focused on gaming.

Yeah, I think I've eliminated the mac pro because it's just gonna cost too much for the performance.