Hello all, I am upgrading my computer, and I already have a few things in mind but I'm not sure what to do, being my budget is under 400 dollars. I want to upgrade my motherboard and processor, and perhaps RAM so I can run the new wave of games (such as Half-Life 2) smoothly. I am thinking about getting either the AMD Athlon64 3000+ or the 3200+. As for motherboards, I'm not sure what's good and I would appreciate a suggestion. Perhaps just a good brand name would be helpful. As for RAM, how is 1GB of PC3200? All help is greatly appreciated.

I'm running:
AMD Athlon 2200+ 1.8GHz
512MB RAM
GeForce 5900XT
Windows XP

fot the motherboard i suggest ->Chaintech VNF3-250 Socket 754 ATX Motherboard
which would worker just fine with a AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor.
About the RAM i think that would be a great choice 1gb of pc3200, ;-).

Socket 939 is the way to go.

Tt Lanfire
nf7-s v2.0
XP-m 2500@209x11
SP 97
512mb pc3200
Jou Jye 550w psu
FX5600
WDCaviar 160gb sata
WDCaviar 160gb sata

;~}

I always choose the MSI or ASUS motherboard brands as they are a recognized make and are very reliable, also have a good technical help record. i would also goe for the Athlon 3200+ on the Socket 939 as they have more potential than the 754's.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Socket 939 / 2000MHz
512KB L2 Cache
&
MSI K8T Neo2-FIR
HyperTransport / DDR400
VIA K8T800Pro Chipset

Go for the Socket 939
1gb of 3200 ram is good

Burn the CPU down

Would STRONGLY recommend getting a PCI-Xpress compatible motherboard... as pci-xpress is the new and transitioning age of high speed graphics.

^*--Warbarz--*^