Hello, and thank you for your kindness. I am looking to upgrade, and I was wondering what cpu I should get. I dont want to spend more than $150.00 on the cpu. I can get an amd64 3400+ skt 754 for $150.00 or an amd64 3000+ skt 939. Obviously the 754 is cheaper, but it is outdated now, because of new technology will the 939 be just as good if not better? Also, is there a good mobo I can get for $70 - $80 with nforce 4? and agp?

go for 3000+ skt 939. you'll live longer :p
maybe ECS NForce4-ultra A939? it's cheap in my country. i don't live in america, so i don't know price there.
as long as i know, there is no NF4 board with AGP slot. if there is, it's like having jet plane powered by propeller, if you know what i mean.

Athlon 64 2800+ @ 2.63 Ghz Stock Cooling
Timings:2-3-2-5
V-Gen 512MB pc3200
DFI Lanparty UT NF3
Abit R9550 VGuru XTurbo
525Mhz/300Mhz

uhh... nevermind..
AGP will bottleneck your system's performance, maybe not now, but later when the graphics card really use pci-e till last bandwith available.

Athlon 64 2800+ @ 2.63 Ghz Stock Cooling
Timings:2-3-2-5
V-Gen 512MB pc3200
DFI Lanparty UT NF3
Abit R9550 VGuru XTurbo
525Mhz/300Mhz

I could be wrong but I don't think there are any S939 nForce4 boards with AGP. But looking at newegg.com, there are 17 S939 models w/AGP that are based on other chipsets (nForce3, VIA K8T800 Pro, or ULi M1869). I think if you're gonna go the S939 route, you should go all the way & get an nForce4 Ultra board w/PCI-e

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

biostar makes a 939 board nf-4 with agp

So I will get better preformance out of a slower 939 cpu than a faster 754 cpu?

depends on core.
if you could get 3000+ w/ venice core, it will run cooler. and since you post it in overclocking forum, i think you want to oc it.
for comparison,3400+ 754 will run at 50C hot, and 3000+ venice will run at 32C-35C. all w/ stock cooling.

so, better buy 3000+, OC it to 2.4-2.8GHZ from 1.8 GHZ.and it will run faster than 3400+ 754(newcastle=2.4GHZ, clawhammer=2.2GHZ default).

still, if you don't want to OC it, 3000+ is the best bang-for-the-buck.

Athlon 64 2800+ @ 2.63 Ghz Stock Cooling
Timings:2-3-2-5
V-Gen 512MB pc3200
DFI Lanparty UT NF3
Abit R9550 VGuru XTurbo
525Mhz/300Mhz

Well, I've only oc'd and old pc for 750 mhz to 885 lol. My current bios wont allow it, and I dont want to risk an overheating. I dont know much about overclocking, if I were to buy the 3000 and overclock it to 2.8, what kind of fans would I need, and would it affect the life of the cpu?

S754 only supports RAM in single channel mode. S939 supports dual channel mode.

Remember that clock speed isn't everything. The improved technology in upgrading from a Duron system to an A64 system should prove to be quite a performance difference in itself...there's probably no reason to overclock. Also remember that there's no such thing as "future proof". Right now, everyone is scurrying around upgrading to the latest & greatest in S939 hardware, but in less than a year, AMD is gonna pull the ol "switch-a-roo" & introduce the socket M2 which supports DDR2 RAM.

Then whatcha gonna do, BROTHER? Whatcha gonna do when the AMD M2 runs wild on you??

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

haha, I dunno, great.. another decesion to make. Well, the question is, is it worth waiting, and how long until M2 prices come down to what 939 prices are now? Hmm.. maybe 939 will go way down when m2 comes around, and I could get a deal. I dunno, I'll have the money in less than a month. lol, soo many choices. All I want is to be able to download on soul seek, talk on aim, go online, listen to music, and possibly run ebay turbo lister at the same time. My pc now cant even handel that. I bought this thing real cheap, the chipset is like unheard of and its... duron 1500+ (posted it was 2700... big mistake)