upgrade advice

[bakaris]

Hi,

My mainboard's dead. I need a new one, but i don't have much disposable cash right now, so it's the only thing i'll be upgrading for at least a year or until something else fails. actually, i'm thinking that maybe i'll get a combo, and get a new processor at the same time. the rest of my components are fairly old though, so i'm not sure if should bother upgrading to something recent? maybe i should look for something a couple years older because my other components would bottleneck it? i'm not sure.

any advice? specific board recommendations would be greatly appreciated. i haven't been following the hardware scene all that closely for the past couple years.

here's my specs:
antec sx1040 case
winxp sp2
2 x crucial 256MB PC2100
1 x crucial 512MB PC2100
Soyo k7v Dragon plus (which i'm replacing)
Athlon xp 1700+ (potentially replacing)
Alpha PAL8045
aiw radeon 8500dv
antec 400w power supply
audigy oem
harddrives, 5 total:
1 x 60 GB ide
1 x 200GB ide
1 x 120GB sata
2 x 120GB ide

many thanks in advance,
regards,
mark

 

[n7]

TBH, i'd just replace that mobo with a cheap one, since really, you need to do a complete system overhaul.

I guess you could maybe go for a s754 Sempron mobo/CPU combo, but your RAM will hold things back alot.

 

[o1die]

My local Fry's has a sempron 2600 retail boxed cpu with ecs sis 755-a2 board for only $70. That would be perfect for you. Check outpost.com for similar deals.