The only reason I am looking to upgrade is because I am having hardware problems and I can't figure them out. I want to buy the parts. I have a case and I have hard drives.

I want something that will not be obsolete for a while, but I don't need anything that powerful. I would like a motherboard with a video card built in. I am not playing games right now, so I don't want to buy a card. By the time I play them again cards will be better.

I have EIDE hard drives, will all the newer boards work with them or only SATA?

So I need motherboard, RAM, CPU, and Powersupply. I have been looking at tigerdirect due to low prices. I know they use lower tier equipment, but will it last? Right now I am using word, excel etc... However, I don't want to go really low end, because it won't have value in 4 years.

For example my 4 year old system is an AMD 2200 XP. I can still do stuff with it 4 years later, just not play high end games.

I prefer an AMD since I am more familiar with it.

Thank You.

Well... everything comes down to Dollars and Cents-- what is your budget??

Personally... I would opt for A PCI-Express motherboard-- as by the time you want to buy a video-card-- VGA will be essentially done (it is now,really) Get as much of the fastest RAM you can afford. Ram is the biggest regret for most people ("I didn't buy enough from the start.") Pick what you would drool over right now, and DOUBLE that amount. You won't be sorry. RAM consumption is unlikely to go down soon.
Power-supply is one of the most over-looked things when building. Again-- what you THINK you really need PLUS 30%-- if you think
you want a 450W --buy a 600W. There's nothing worse than getting all excited over a new upgrade-- only to find out your PS is cutting out due to overload.
Do these 2 FIRST and THEN start adding those dream parts-- even if the budget says you have to wait for that video-card. Build your PC like your house... set a top-notch FOUNDATION first --Then build on it.


Decent quality MOBO+Good processor+fast ram/lots of it +topnotch power-supply equals a good foundation

Most Mobo's these days will still support IDE drives --and their speeds are adequate-- and you will have the option to upgrade to SATA later on.

So if i get a PCI Express board. Would that be an AM2 Board? AM2 boards will support both single core and dual core AMD chips right?

Hi gramberto, it's not that simple anymore

PCI-e boards are on everything...Intel, AMD (all the sockets) and AM2
PCI-e is only a graphics expansion slot which is standard accross the board now.

AM2 is only multiple cores (2 or more) but you need to make sure you get an AM2 CPU, and not a 939 CPU, or any other sockets released by AMD.

It appears ....from what I've read that AM2 will require a lot of "extras". The socket 940 on the new version is NOT compatible with older chips-- even previous socket 940 chips. They will also require a new type of fan/heatsink-- so nothing you have now will fit.
That would be enough for me to say "pass"... for now, at least. Too limiting in choices/price/acessories for my taste.
"Bleeding edge" often spells bleeding money-- I'd wait until this was more standardized myself. There are too many other good/ fast selections available.

Yup, it's why i still have my current computer and not gone up yet...

But still, in 4 years time...upgrading DDR1 memory will be hard....very hard.