Ok... I'm looking to buy a new computer, and i have 2 seperate packages in mind. I will list the packages and if any of you could, please tell me what you think of them and which one is more bang for my buck. Thx. Package 1 - $703 (All prices are in Canadian Dollars) - AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton - ECS L7S7AS SIS74 USB2.0 ATX Main Board - 256 PC2700 DDR333 Memory - 80GB 7200rpm HDD - 3.5 inch floppy drive - 52x CD Rom - Wooden Sub-woofer speakers - NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 64MB DDR TVO - Integrated AC'97 Codec 6-channel 3D Audio - Integrated 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet LAN - Mid Tower Case (w/ 300W ATX PS) - HP Internet Keyboard - Optical Wheel Mouse Total: $703 (CDN) ============================================= Package 2 - $1103 - AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Barton - MSI K7N2 Delta-L nForce2 Ultra400 USB2.0 MB - 512 MB PC3200 DDR400 Dual Channel - 80GB 7200rpm HDD - 3.5 inch floppy drive - 52x CD Rom - Wooden Sub-woofer speakers - NVIDIA GeForce FX5200 128 DDR TVO - Integrated AC'97 Codec 6-Channel 3D Audio - Integrated 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet LAN - Korean Style Aluminum Look Case(w/ 300W PS) - HP Internet Keyboard - Optical Wheel Mouse Total: $1103 (CDN) Please tell me which package is more bang for my buck. Thx Mat

I would say package 1. The performance between these 2 are obsolute minimum. A Geforce FX 5200 runs same as the Geforce 4 MX440. In some games, it might be slightly faster, but not by much. Athlon 2500+ vs Athlon 2800+, thats like only 100Mhz or less difference in real frequency. Once you add another 256MB RAM into your first package, the performance difference will be minimum. If you really need package 2, I rather spend the extra dollar on a better graphic card, like a Geforce FX 5900 Ultra or an Radeon 9800 PRO. I wouldn't want a ECS motherboard, I'd highly recommand Asus motherboard. They are very stable and easy to overclock.

Hi Mat Just to add to tmp's comment's, ditch the ECS board, stick with the asus mobo or the Gigabyte mobo, especialy with the Nforce chip,also have a good look at some of the latest mobos from ALBATRON, Epox also make a magic mobo also, take a look. And pls pls look at a stronger power supply AMD's need pure SMOOTH clean power a 350 would be much much better. Oh and not a cheap one eather, spend the extra $ you will not be sorry. Regards Janos

The performance difference between these two systems is nowhere close to the price difference.

Yea, One thing though, In the first package you would probably want to put another 256 mb chip of ram into it