$500 (US)

[Chris Martin]

Ok, let your imaginations go, for 500 bucks, best combination of
motherboard, cpu and memory? What about motherboards that we know are
coming out soon? I'm trying to decide if I should stay with my current
processor ( XP 1900+) or since I am buying a new motherboard switch
processors as well. Obviously I'll get more speed out of a new processor,
but at what costs? Then again, if I let myself get a new processor then the
board I can get will be different as well. Decisions decisions.

 

[Matt Merkey]

Ok, let your imaginations go, for 500 bucks, best combination of
motherboard, cpu and memory? What about motherboards that we know are
coming out soon? I'm trying to decide if I should stay with my current
processor ( XP 1900+) or since I am buying a new motherboard switch
processors as well. Obviously I'll get more speed out of a new processor,
but at what costs? Then again, if I let myself get a new processor then the
board I can get will be different as well. Decisions decisions.

You can get one heck of a mobo/cpu/memory combo for $500. The place I
ordered my last combo from was Access Micro. Right at
www.accessmicro.com. They've got pretty good prices on their combos, and
a nice configuration chooser.

Here's an extremely fast combo. An Asus A7V600 with their new Serial ATA
drive interface, an AMD XP 3200+ (2.2 ghz), and a full gigabyte of
Kingston ram in two 512 meg chips. All for about $526.

 

[Pepperoni]

Intel BOXD865GBFL i865G SK478 800FSB Dual Ch DDR400, AGP 8X, SATA
150,w/Video/Audio/Lan ATX MB - Retail Price: $ 105.89
Board comes with cables and setup CD, auto-sensing/ no jumpers to set.

Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHZ 800FSB Socket 478 512K ( BX80532PG3000D ) CPU Retail
with Heatsink and Fan**Free Shipping** Price: $ 229.89

Kingston 512MB Kit ( 2x256MB ) PC3200 DDR 400MHz( KVR400X64C3AK2/512) CL3 -
Retail * Free Shipping *Our price $118.89
Runs well with 512, but I recommend a second kit to take advantage of Dual
channel memory. I run single channel currently. (Win 98)

Future Case 228 Blue 2.0 USB AMD / P4 Ready with 400w Power Supply, Case
Fan Price: $ 38.00 Nice case, has front USB2, side fan. Everything on
Mboard leaves 7 expansion slots. easy build.

105.89
229.89
118.89
38.00

 

[John]

Ok, let your imaginations go, for 500 bucks, best combination of
motherboard, cpu and memory? What about motherboards that we know are
coming out soon? I'm trying to decide if I should stay with my current
processor ( XP 1900+) or since I am buying a new motherboard switch
processors as well. Obviously I'll get more speed out of a new processor,
but at what costs? Then again, if I let myself get a new processor then the
board I can get will be different as well. Decisions decisions.

Id get the parts I mentioned OC barton 2500 to 3200 etc and save $200+
Theres already talk about new graphics cards and BTX formfactors and
theres the 64 bit AMD and talk about new Intel chips so - that would
make do and not depreciate as much when the new stuff comes out a year
or so from now.