Need help picking mobo/processor combination

Manamicool

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Sep 3, 2006
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It's finally time for me to upgrade my processor/motherboard. I'd like to keep it short and simple for those smart people out there who know the answer to my question, so here's the guidelines:

Motherboard:
- Slots for AGP and PCIE graphic cards
- Integrated audio
- Integrated ethernet
- Processor socket: AMD or Intel doesn't matter. Must allow for better processers my old socket 478 mobo, but not too much. Nothing fancy.
- Accepts standard ol' DDR ram
- Accepts standard ol' IDE
- I probably will never need a PCI slot (Unless the motherboard I get doesn't have all the options I want, of course) so the only reason to get a bigger one would be for performance reasons, if bigger motherboards actually do perform better.
- USB2 support?
- If at all possible, better than my previous (crappy) Soyo P4X400 Lite.

Processor:
- Fits mentioned motherboard (heh)
- Better than my old Celeron D 2.7
- I'd greatly appreciate a CPU fan reccomendation... I have a nac for choosing the wrong fan and I'd rather not do that...

Entire package: Anything that even barely meets this criteria that costs altogether in the neighborhood of $300, preferably from the same vendor




I checked prices the other day on Tigerdirect and everything I asked for seemed reasonable... but then again I've been out of the PC-building loop for about two years. I've got almost no idea what I'm looking at anymore, and I'd hate to pick up the wrong parts unknowingly.

I actually ran Counter Strike, Half-life 2 and WoW on my old 'rig' (9800 pro, 2.7 celeron, 768 MB DDR) until the mobo went crazy; was happy with the results. Nothing I get should be top of the line; really the main reason I'm even getting a different socketed motherboard is for possible future upgrades. So long as it's just a little better than my previous CPU I'll be happy. Same (kinda) goes for the PCIE/AGP slots; me being on a limited budget makes me have to wait to upgrade to a PCIE card, so till then I gotta go with my AGP one for now. Getting a motherboard with both slots leaves oppurtunity for future expansion.

Any queries you have I'll happily answer. Any suggestions/help of any kind would be greatly appreciated!!!!

EDIT: looking at this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2180951&CatId=1599

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2180953&CatId=0

Main concern is if the processors would be better than my old one was (Celeron 2.7)... That cheaper bundle looks mighty attractive...
 

shadowduck

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dougie_boy

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I have that board, great board. Plus for $30 you can upgrade the whole shabang to AM2. Its a steal really.

it an awesome board. it makes me annoyed when everyone slams ASRock and Epox and praises Asus. hey ho.
 

shadowduck

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I have that board, great board. Plus for $30 you can upgrade the whole shabang to AM2. Its a steal really.

it an awesome board. it makes me annoyed when everyone slams ASRock and Epox and praises Asus. hey ho.

AsROCK is Asus which makes the slamming even more amusing.
 

Manamicool

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Sep 3, 2006
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Thanks Doug; helped me out a lot!

Just wondering: What are the chances of AMD reducing prices again before christmas? Figure it won't happen, but maybe they're releasing some other technology that'll drive prices down again...?
 

Manamicool

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No thanks; I'll probably just get what Dougie suggested. I'd like to get an AM2 slotted MB, but don't think any of them have support for AGP and PCIE. Bleh.