motherboard/processor help

[jgeske]

I am in the market for a new motherboard/processor combo. I've been in it for a while. As a matter of fact, I am currently running a Pentium 3 698 MHz processor just to give you an idea. I run media like streaming videos, movies, music, and streaming music. I am a light gamer and definately need a better video card, motherboard and processor. However, I am mostly concerned about the motherboard/processor combo. I've known that there would be dual processors out and now I am afraid to NOT get a dual processor. I don't have the money to get top of the line but I do want to be able to upgrade it in the future and not have to buy two new processors in the future. I am in the market for a combo ranging around $250-$350. Can anyone give me any ideas? It looks like the AMDs are the way to go but I'm not completely sure what I'm looking for. Could someone please help?

[nbaptista007]

You can get a AMD X2 3800+ and a board like DFI or Abit.But this is more than your budget

[jgeske]

How much out? I do plan to get a new case afterwards, probably $50-$85. I'll be getting a new video card - hopefully $100-$175. I'll purchase memory too but I'll purchase that separately from the combo unit (for specific reasons b/c I know it would be cheaper to buy together-unless it works out for my price range). I want wireless capability for my in-home network but only needing that for my game system (which I could do later). I need my motherboard/processor combo to run at about $300-$350 as the person getting it for me has a limit.

Separately I want another combo unit but it needs to support AGP slots. Same price range.

[jgeske]

Should I be looking at this?

Biostar NF4SLi-A9 NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard and an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.80GHz Processor with Fan

or

Biostar TForce6100-939 NVIDIA Socket 939 MicroATX Motherboard with an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.80GHz & 512MB DDR PC3200

or

Asus A8N SLI Deluxe nVidia Socket 939 ATX MotherBoard and an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.80GHz Processor with Fan

or

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard with an Intel Celeron D 346 3.06GHz CPU & 512MB DDR2 PC4200 Memory

[therealwesty]

I have never been a fan of Biostar motherboards, so I won't recommend one of those packages. They are keyed towards the lower-cost market so I think they have to cut corners somewhere in the production.

Also, the CeleronD package you have listed isn't really in the same league as the Athlon 64 packages. The motherboard listed is pretty nice if you are looking for an Intel platform. The Celeron though is Intel's low-cost chip, so they don't have the features or performance of the Intel Pentium4 of the same speed. And Athlon 64 is AMD's mainstream model, the Athlon 64 should be compared to the Pentium4. The Celeron would certainly be faster than your PentiumIII but at the price point the Athlon 64 is clearly a better choice.

Also note that the Athlon 64 3000+ ins't dual core. Look for the Athlon 64 <b>X2</b> chips if you are shopping for a dually. Unfortunatly at the $350 price point for the board and chip combo I don't think you will be getting an X2 chip. The prices on the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ chip on its own, which is the first model, are around $400 Canadian.

[stlouis1]

man, whatever you buy now will beat your current setup 10 fold, so i dont think it matters what your get. but like westy said, i would suggest an athlon over a celeron. it doesnt even have to be a highend athlon