Best mobo/cpu for new "build my own"

[bupkus]

About a year ago I built my first PC's. Infact, I build 3 of them for myself and my nephews.
Now my brother wants me to build 2 more, one for him and one for my niece.
Last year it made sense to use the IWILL KK266 with 900MHz Athlons, but today is a year later and I don't even know whether to go AMD or Intel.

Please post your suggestions for CPU, mainboard, and memory.
Useage? Surfin' the net for brother and not to costly for niece.

Thanks.

 

[Boonesmi]

for cost/performance AMD is still the best choice (in my opinion)

the new motherboards based on the via kt266a chipset are probably the current best

some examples would be (there are many but these are my two favorite )
soyo dragon plus
epox 8kha+
asus a7v266-e

 

[bupkus]

ttt

 

[o1die]

I just ordered the epox ep-4sda+ with northwood 1.6a cpu for only $260 shipped from newegg. I've used amd athlons for the last 3 years, but want to see how far I can overclock the northwood. I agree with the other gentlemen; the athlon xp is a great deal. I recommend the epox 8kha+ for $69 with free shipping from newegg, or the shuttle ak31a for only $59. I've bought 2 refurbished items from newegg, and they work great. Combine one of those with an 1800 xp, and you get great performance dirt cheap.

 

[Presence]

Defitely cant go wrong with a Epox-8KHA+ and an Athlon XP get a 1600 or 1700 and you got a screamin machine at a very low cost. For memory I like Crucial

 

[mee987]

I have to agree - I'm using an Epox 8kha+ with XP 1700+ and PC2100 Crucial RAM.... couldnt be happier.

 

[reformat]

I've built 5 computers for my children and myself, since your building for family and you've already started with AMD,stick with it so everyone can benefit from the trickle down effect. I run a Shuttle AK31A/XP1700 ($200 from Newegg) with Crucial PC2100, and I built two of my sons an ECS K7S5A/1.2ghz@266 ($146 newegg) and an ECS K7S5A/1.3ghz Duron(retail) ($151 Newegg). They are all pretty speedy, the K7S5A's are rock solid and a steal at $56, they are just not much for OCing.

 

[LS20]

frys has ECS + Xp1800 for 180$

 

[johndoe52]

Just for more options...
ECS K7S5A with the sis 735 chipset
1 ghz duron...(new morgan core)
gives you the option of ddr or sdram and costs just around $100.

Otherwise I'd say Soyo Dragon Plus (KT266a) with an XP 1700+.

Haven't looked at memory prices though since I bought my 768 megs of ram from crucial for under $100!!!!

 

[Mem]

<< I have to agree - I'm using an Epox 8kha+ with XP 1700+ and PC2100 Crucial RAM.... couldnt be happier. >>



Same here,also it`s very easy board to setup since you only have one jumper(100/133mhz fsb) to worry about.

 

[ThenIsaid]

Maybe consider an nForce board? Could end up being cheaper if you plan to go the AMD route....