I'm building my sister a pretty barebones PC for college, so I'm giving her some of my parts and would like to upgrade. I don't want to shell out a lot of money for a AMD 64 system right now, but I'd still like to upgrade some of my components. Here are my current dilemmas.
Motherboard - I have a Epox 8RDA+ right now that I'll probably give to my sister. I need a MB with raid, but not at the AMD 64 level. I heard things like the A7N were still good. The MB should have good onboard sound, but no video. Basically what's the most feature packed motherboard of the Athlon XP generation with a good price? Budget is probably around $100
CPU - Is the Barton 2500 still the best bang for the buck? I'm perfectly fine with keeping my CPU and buying something lower for the sister. Basically what's the best value CPU right now. Fry's has a Barton 2700+ and MB combo for $99, but I dont' want to give my sister a crap unstable MB.
Ram - Should I upgrade my 2x256 kingston hyperx PC3200 ram, or should I just go out and buy a simple 512 stick for my sister?
Monitor - I'm probably giving her my old Envision CRT monitor, which actually works really well (1280x1024 @ 85hz). I'm looking for a 17 or 19 inch silver or black CRT monitor with good refresh rates. I'd like to keep this around the 200-250 mark.
All input appreciated. All prices are generally flexible. Basically I'm totally fine with the performance of my computer right now, but I'm going to be adding another 120gig WD Hard Drive, so I'd like to run that in RAID, so I need to upgrade my motherboard.
Motherboard - I have a Epox 8RDA+ right now that I'll probably give to my sister. I need a MB with raid, but not at the AMD 64 level. I heard things like the A7N were still good. The MB should have good onboard sound, but no video. Basically what's the most feature packed motherboard of the Athlon XP generation with a good price? Budget is probably around $100
CPU - Is the Barton 2500 still the best bang for the buck? I'm perfectly fine with keeping my CPU and buying something lower for the sister. Basically what's the best value CPU right now. Fry's has a Barton 2700+ and MB combo for $99, but I dont' want to give my sister a crap unstable MB.
Ram - Should I upgrade my 2x256 kingston hyperx PC3200 ram, or should I just go out and buy a simple 512 stick for my sister?
Monitor - I'm probably giving her my old Envision CRT monitor, which actually works really well (1280x1024 @ 85hz). I'm looking for a 17 or 19 inch silver or black CRT monitor with good refresh rates. I'd like to keep this around the 200-250 mark.
All input appreciated. All prices are generally flexible. Basically I'm totally fine with the performance of my computer right now, but I'm going to be adding another 120gig WD Hard Drive, so I'd like to run that in RAID, so I need to upgrade my motherboard.
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