Building i686 optimized packages from source

[xio <xio@port22.net>]

Hi,

I wonder whether anyone could help me with this:

I am installing Debian on my new laptop.  And I thought I might try 
building i686 optimized packages from the source packages.  I 
understand, that there is at least two ways:

1.  Use the pentium-builder package and apt-get -b source and install 
packages.
2.  Use apt-build.

Which method do you recommend?

In your opinion, is the performance gain really worth the effort of 
compiling from source?

TIA,

xio