Good, cheap mobo/cpu upgrade?

[JCase]

I want to upgrade my current system (P3 550 on a Abit BE6-2 rev1), but want to replace as few parts as possible. I have about 600 megs of PC133 ram in there that I would like to leave in the new system, so what would be a good mobo/cpu combo that I can use this ram with? If I have to, I will just buy new ram as well, but we're trying to keep cost to a minimum here. Thanks!

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

if you dont overclock
look at the ecs line of boards
they (most) support sdram as well as ddrram

what you would have to look into is the max per dimm and how many dimms they have

cpu:
athlon xp (anykind)
maybe tbred

 

[optimistic]

At Fry's they have right now

P4 2.4GHz w/ ECS mainboard $199
XP 1800 w/ ECS K75sa $99 <--- Uses both SDR & DDR memory.


Every other week they have

P4 2.4GHz w/ MSI $199
XP 2000 w/ Soyo Dragon Lite $149

 

[JCase]

Looks like I'll be heading down to fry's...won't I need a new PS(and case while i'm at it) for an XP? what's a good, cheap one?

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

depends, what psu do you have now?

 

[Blurry]

Keep the 640 megs of ram. That way, you could always get a MSI KT7 Turbo 2 ( Athlon XP Chipset that supports PC 133) for $56 shipped.
Linky
How large is your hard drive? If it is around 30 gigs and up then I suggest keeping it. That'll keep costs down too. I also suggest you upgrading to a Radeon 8500 64MB...its a great card, and only for around $70.
Radeon 8500 LE
Next for the processor, I'd suggest an Athlon Xp 1700+... its fast and cheap
XP 1700+
No sound card; you could always use the integrated sound chip.
Finally, I recommend at least two 80mm fans, and a decent Cpu heatsink.
Heatsink
By adding up all those stuff...you'll be at almost $200. ( I didn't add in the NIC, Sound Card, and the Case, and power supply)
Hope this helps

 

[JCase]

thanks for all the help guys!
that last setup looks pretty good, especially considering I have the hard drives taken care of (one 27gig and one 40gig), so I guess what I NEED are cpu,mobo and PS/case (the one I have is a generic that I don't trust...), and then maybe upgrade the video later (there's a TNT2 ultra in there now, which could definitely use replacing, but it's not necessary)...