Been out of the loop for abit, need another good bang for the buck PC ..please give me some options

[BentValve]

Hello, I have been out of the loop for about a year and I am ready to build something right now but dont know where to start.

First off , I am just looking to upgrade my current PC (which btw works just fine , I just want abit more performance)

I currently have an Athlon XP 2000 running at 2ghz (was faster but I slowed it down 6 months ago just so it would last longer) I am using a Soltek Nforce 2 based board and I have 512mb of PC266 ram.

Basically I just I just need help with what processor/mobo and ram to go with ...I can probably handle the rest.

Id like to know what the a few of the bang for the buck leaders are right now.

thanks

 

[GullyFoyle]

An Nforce3-250 Socket 754 motherboard, generic PC3200 RAM, and the fastest Athlon 64 you can afford. (Or buy the cheapest and see how far you can clock it).

 

[BentValve]

thanks....
is this a decent board?

SOLTEK "SL-K8AN2E-GR"

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: DanDeighan
An Nforce3-250 Socket 754 motherboard, generic PC3200 RAM, and the fastest Athlon 64 you can afford. (Or buy the cheapest and see how far you can clock it).

??? Generic RAM???? NOOOOOOOO! Seriously get some name brand RAM. You can get a gig of Geil for 150 bucks (PC3200). Not worth it to get generic RAM.

 

[RedShirt]

If this ever comes back in stock it is a HUGE bang for the buck.

Let the Intel bashing begin

link

 

[GullyFoyle]

I can't speak from experience but the customers over at newegg give that Soltek a 5 out of 5. Features look good for the price and Soltek has a pretty good rep.

When I said Generic RAM, I meant don't waste your money on PC4000, PC4400, "enhanced latency", or whatever. Just standard PC3200 from an established manufacturer like Kingston, Mushkin, Corsair, or Crucial is fine. You're not going to get your money's worth in performance from that fancy stuff. Not bang for the buck. You'll get more performance out of twice as much of the cheap stuff than half as much of the premium stuff.