New System Suggestions???

I want to upgrade my ancient C300a system to something modern. I want to replace the CPU, mobo, memory, video, sound and add a new HD. Just to get me started can anyone suggest what's hot this week as far as those parts go? I want a CPU I can OC to ~1Ghz without a ton of cooling, oh yeah I would like to stick with PIII rather than AMD.

My current system is:

C300a @ 504
BH6
128M 100Mhz
V3 3000 AGP
MX300


Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

 

[micron]

What's wrong with AMD? The other day I ordered an MSI K7T PRO2-A and an 800MHZ T-Bird for the price of a 800MHZ PIII. AMD CPUs also OC very well because you can change the multiplier.

 

I have family who work for Intel and they would kill me if I went to the other side

 

[micron]

I understand .

 

[Ulysses]

I would suggest the ASUS CUSL2A Socket-370 i815E ATX mobo with a P3 cC0 FC-PGA CPU (see this). Get the GlobalWIN FOP32-1 fan & h/sink, which is very good, but not extreme. Maybe get the Mushkin PC133 SDRAM rev. 1.5 or 2.0 @ 256 MB or so.

As for the specific P3, just be sure to get cC0 FC-PGA meant for the 100 MHz system bus for best overclocking results. Here is what I did with a BX board, but I'm not necessarily advocating this. Maybe get a pretested overclocked CPU from Compuwiz1.

Your MX300 is fine with Win 98, but not with Win 2K. Maybe upgrade the vid card, depending on what you do.

Don't forget other things like adequate RAM, a fast HDD or HDD's, etc.

P.S.
Check AnandTech's latest Buyer's Guide.

 

[ChipNOW]

I'd reccomend the following...
PIII 800/850 E (Probably the best value choice right now).
Thermaltake Golden or Super Orb Cooler (Good, low cost cooler)
Asus CUSL2A i815E Mobo (Great board, need I say more)
At least 256MB Good PC133 cas2 SDRAM (Prices are dead low)
Depending on budget, either a Hercules GFII MX, or GFII Pro (Work above and beyond)
45GB IBM 7200rpm ATA100 IDE drive (best price/performance IMO)
Creative Sound Blaster LIVE Player (superb value for money)
They're my reccomendations - hope they help

 

[Renob]

Dont tell your family and get AMD it is by far the best bang for the buck... Or just lie to them. Just curious if you worked at safeway you think they would never shop at Luckys???

 

[nickburns]

i recommend finding a new family and think AMD, at least give it a chance. I have family that work for Ford, but i still drive Chevy

 

[PCAddict]

Why can't the person in your family who works for Intel get you a deal on a CPU? If they can't then go AMD.

Seriously, ChipNOW's suggestions are right on the money. Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I actually deviated quite a bit from my original config. Here is what I am looking at now. Please chime in if you think that any of these parts can be replaced with better ones.

CPUs: P3 700E x 2
Motherboard: Microstar 694 Pro
Memory: 256 Muskin 133Mhz
Video: Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator 2
DVD: Pioneer 10x Slot SCSI
HD: IBM Deskstar 75 GXP 45G and Atlas 10k2 SCSI
Sound: SB Live OEM (Going to run Win2k so...)

AMD is still not an option for the CPU, though the low cost is certainly tempting.