My motherboard recently blew some capacitors, so I'm in the market for a better one. I'm wondering if I should bother keeping my current CPU (AMD Athlon 1700) or get something better? The board I really want says it takes Althlon XP 1800 to 3200. My CPU is an Athlon 1700 (not XP). Does it matter? will this board function properly with an inferior CPU? Or should I go for a CPU/mobo bundle?

Why not upgrade to 64bit, this is a perfect opportunity having lost your motherboard, the cheapest entry level 64bit combo you get now will blow your old config out of the water. B4 you criticize a bigger man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, you're a mile away, and you have his shoes.

Yeah just upgrade to a 939 AMD Athlon 64 processor and 939 motherboard to go along with it. You can buy these two items really cheap. I mean 155 dollars for an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor is really a great deal and you can get a 939 motherboard that has dual channel on it for 80 dollars or so. You miles well upgrade to a higher DDR as well to like a DDR 2700 or a DRR 3200, because if you have older DDR and you put it on a new system it might become a bottleneck on your new system.

There is no Athlon 1700 that's NOT an Athlon XP. The "plain" Athlon maxed out at 1400MHz. Before you go shopping for a board, find out what CPU you have. Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8 x 210MHz 512MB PC3200 Asus Ti4800SE 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro

Jam is right and the only difference between the 1700+ and 1800+ I could find was the cpu multiplier. I think the 1700+ should run too on that board! But I agree with the others that you should think about upgrading to an Athlon64 with a socket939 board. But you have to think if you want an AGP or PCI express board. With the last you also need a new graphic card. And I suggest to take a good board like Asus or MSI. As it already happened to you, a cheap board may cost more in the end!

Alrighty, then. I've ordered (from NewEgg, cuz I hear they rock) an EPoX "EP-9NDA3J" NVIDIA NForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard for Socket 939 CPU (retail), and an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU (also retail, so I don't have to deal with a possibly inferior heatsink). I am thinking about resurfacing the heatsink, but I'm not taht concerned with heat transfer rates and all the crap. I'll overclock a little, jsut to see if I can, and then just be happy to have my puter back! :) Thanks for all your help!