No Idea on upgrading my MB / CPU - Help

[FalseLogic]

Hi all,

Last upgrade I made was to an Asus CUSL2 board (right when it came out), and a P3 800EB. I also remember I spent almost $500 to get 256 megs of RAM!!

Anyway, I recently went to Windows XP, and all is fairly well. But, I was thinking about another upgrade, but I've been away for awhile and I don't know what to buy now. I'm frankly confused any the different systems, chipsets, RAM...

Could someone recommend a reliable MB / CPU ? I'd prefer to keep with Intel, since I've been brainwashed, and I don't ever feel like dealing with any hardware incompatibilities or issues because I don't have an Intel (maybe that's not so much a concern anymore).

I'd also be open to suggestions on a SCSI system. I'm fairly happy with my IDE/UDMA-100, but I would like a more responsive system that doesn't get so bogged down by disk access. But I'd still go with IDE.

I don't want to spend too crazy, but I'd be willing to fork over the necessary funds for a good system.

Thanks for any comments or help.

 

[Athlon4all]

For Intel, here's a great upgrade (but make sure your other componets are up to speed as well):

Abit TH7II $150
2x 128MB sticks of Samsung PC800 RDRAM (about $80)
P4 Northwood 1.6A $160
Total: $390

If u overclock this setup to 140fsb (you should be able to), this will provide a very nice performance increase provided you have a good Video card/HD. You also need to make sure you have at least a 300W PS, prefferably a 400W. If you don't then u will need a new Case/PS. If this is too expensive, then try this AMD setup:

EPoX 8KHA+ $100
256MB Crucial PC2100 $70
AMD Athlon XP 1700+ Retail $130
Total: $300

That will also provide great performance, it won't quite oc or perform as well as the overclocked 1.6A setup above but, still it will do great compared to your P3 800. Any more q's?

P.S. Welcome to Anandtech Forums!

 

[FalseLogic]

Thanks for the reply. I'll look at that ABIT board.

I'm open to further suggestions or comments. Thanks all, and thanks for the warm welcome to the msg board!

I'm vaugely aware of other types of RAM now. I've also seen PC2400 , or PC2600 RAN. Why not go with a MB/CPU that supports this faster RAM? Just curious.

 

[Athlon4all]

Here's why. The PC2400, PC3000 you speak of, isn't a offical standard. It's just PC2100 DDR that has been pretested to run at PC2400 or PC3000. The only faster memory than PC800 and PC2100 that actually has motherboard support is PC2700 but that standard hasn't even been offically certified yet.