I need help spending money. $250 for proc/mb/ram.

[SALvation]

I'd like to upgrade some stuff and am looking to spend about $250. I'd like to get a AMD processor with MB and some RAM. Currently I have:

800MHz Thunderbird
Abit KT7
512 PC133

It's been a couple of years since I upgraded so what is the best mb chipset out now? Should I be looking at nForce or KT333? Also, what is the best value of RAM? Higher speed or more memory? Thanks for any help.

 

[Adul]

depends on your os. but ddr is really expensive right now. i would sell your old stuff to get more cash.

you can currently pick up a athlon 1800+ at newegg.com for 88 bucks, ddr mb from shuttle ak31a(newegg) for 59 bucks, and 512 mb of mushkin pc2100 for 135.(mushkin.com)

for a kt333 b i think you can add another 40 to that price

 

[Lucky]

you could shave a few bucks of that suggestion by either getting 256MB DDR right now and waiting till prices come down to buy more, or get a 1600+ and save $20.

 

[CrazySaint]

Right now, the most feature-packed "value" board out there is the Abit NV7-133R nForce 415-D based motherboard for around $90. It has USB 2.0, RAID, and sound that's somewhere between a SB Live! and an Audigy.

 

[nemo160]

you could go with an ECS k7s5a for $50, XP 1800+ for $88, Antec 350 W psu for $50 and keep using the pc 133 until ddr prices come down, then be able to keep same mobo and switch to ddr

 

[SALvation]

Is there that big a difference between 2100 and 2700 speed DDR?

 

[CrazySaint]

On an Athlon, the difference between PC2100 and PC2700 is about 2%, its a different story on the P4, however. Btw, the NV7-133R also includes onboard NIC.