Shoutbox

Cheap Athlon64 would be the 2800+ while expensive would be the single core FX-57 or the Dual Core X2-4800.

Current cores are:

Venice (Former Winchester) - 512KB Cache
San Diego (Former Clawhammer) - 1MB Cache
Manchester - 512KB Cache  (this is X2 so 512KB each core)
Toledo - 1MB Cache  (this is X2 so 1MB each core)


Currently cheap Single Core reccomendation would be the Athlon64 3500+ (Venice/Winchester) on Socket 939 & the Athlon64 3200+ (newcastle) on Socket 754.

High end you'd be looking at any of the X2 line (recommended for future proofing and multitasking) or the FX-55 (or 57) which are Single Core.

X2 3800 is the best bang for your buck at the moment.