Most future-proof CPU/MB upgrade now?

[amheck]

Hi everyone.

My system now:
Abit BE6-II r.1
Celeron 433
384 Crucial SDRAM (One 100Mhz stick, one PC133 stick)
13 Gig Seagate Baracude ATA66 7200 RPM
Voodoo 3 2000 PCI

I want to put XP on my system, but apparently the Hotpoint 366 ATA66 driver on my MB does not allow the installation of XP for some reason. For the best bag-for-the-buck, a Celeron 1.1Gig would have been the best with my existing hardware, but if I can't install WinXP, I guess that doesn't make sense to go that route.

So....I guess my questions is this: What's the best upgrade now, in terms of being the most future-proof, in terms of AMD or Intel. I realize that with the AMD, I am pretty sure I can stil use my SDRAM. What's the best chipset to use now? Is there anything coming out very soon that's worth waiting for? How far, In GHz, will the current AMD boards support? And the same questions for the P4. The RDRAM prices seem to be falling, so that's not as much of a concern as it was a few months ago.

If I am going to spend several hundred now, I just wanna be sure that this board, with the chipset and everything, can be used for as long as possible. If there are any arcitecture changes coming with the CPU's and the boards now will be obsolete soon, that's definitely be a factor.

Thanks in advance,
Aaron

EDIT: Also, if I have to buy a new case and/or power supply, that would also be a factor in deciding which way to go.

 

[AllDressedUp]

amheck,

You might find a few related thoughts on your questions here, FWIW.

-ADU

 

[yodayoda]

i think your best bet is the ECS K7S5A motherboard. can be had for $70 shipped and accommodates SDRAM and DDR RAM. i think it is also athlonxp compliant. that means that you could buy the board and a duron 800 processor for about $100, using your existing memory. then, at some time in the future, you could upgrade to the new athlonXP processors and DDR memory for a few hundred dollars more.

chances are, you might break even on the deal if you sell off your existing hardware on the for sale/trade forums or fleabay. one other note: you need to make sure you are using a decent power supply. most 250W power supplies should be OK with a duron + ECS, but with an athlon (it draws 1.75V) and more peripherals, you need to get at least a 300W job (can be had for $20 though at openlinx.net)