i need computer help

i want to upgrade my second computer, but i don't want to spend a whole lot. Right now its got a PIII 550, w about 400 mb of PC100 ram and a 32mb video card. I want to upgrade the processor and motherboard. Any relatively low priced suggestions?

Well if you change the motherboard & CPU you'll more then likely need to change the RAM.

You need to pick AMD or Intel - big can of worms.
Do plenty of research, pick a motherboard with good momory bandwidth and a good CPU future ahead of it - so you don't have to replace it for a while. Then pop in the lowest powered CPU it can take (save money) and a fair chunk of RAM.
Something like a P4 1.6ghz (not the orignal one) on a non RAMBUS/PC133 board with about 256RAM (more if you run XP).
If you go AMD a Duron 1gig (better core then the 900) is a good starting point as the motherboard will also accept their flagship Athlons.

Sorry I can't point you towards a specific setup - but azzo.com have some solid CPU & motherboard combos.

Other option might be maxing out your current motherboard CPU wise and using faster memory (CAS2) - but you'll need to post more info for that to be discussed.

If you're in to selling the old parts off let me know. That's better than what I am running now for my main computer. My 2nd computer has a P100 and is slow as [censored].

For a cheap and great AMD board, you must consider the ECS K7S5A. Newegg has it for $54. One of the great things about this board is its ability to use SDR and DDR SDRAM. Since your RAM is PC100, you can keep it if you match the K7S5A to a Duron. A 1GHz Duron from Newegg is only $43.

For about $100 you can really breathe new life into your machine.

whoa, see thanks, that is exactly what i was looking for. I don't need madening speed on this computer, just a little kick in the ass. So basically, i get that board, but i need to get a Duron processor to keep my PC100 ram? DO you have any idea what the fastest Duron is that will work with that motherboard? I appreciate the suggestions, thanks!

Fastest Duron is 1.3GHz avilable for $81 at newegg. This is the boxed version that comes with fan and 3 year warranty.

I don't need madening speed on this computer, just a little kick in the ass.

I find that in general use I don't really notice differences in speed smaller than about a factor of three. (Of course, if you're doing longrunning things like compiling KDE or encoding video, you'll notice any improvement.)

A gamer might see things differently, too. I remember a PCW magazine from about 1994 that was reviewing power user systems, asking themselves "Who is a power user?". The answer they came up with was "Someone who plays games". This was a novel insight at the time, and it's taken for granted these days...

Peter

The fastest Duron currently available is the 1.3gig but you can also use Athlons which currently max out at XP2100+ (1.733GHz).

As replaceing a motherboard is alot of work, make sure you choise wisely and don't end up hobbling yourself down the road. Hence, it might be worth spending extra now.

Hence, it might be worth spending extra now.

Don't let the price of this board fool you. It is perfectly capable of running any current AMD K7 processor. It is also extremely stable and very fast. It comes very highly acclaimed.

I have personally built 3 computers using this board and they all work flawlessly. 2 use SDR memory and the other uses DDR. One flaw in the board's design is the power LED connector. The power LED on most PC cases is two leads with space between them (effectively making the connector 3 pins). The K7S5A has a 2 pin LED connector. This is not a big deal since you can easily reposition the leads for the LED.

Rob, was not putting down that motherboard in anyway. I was just advocating plenty of research before purchase.

Currently the only downside I see of the motherboard is the two SDR slots limiting visuvius to using only two of his current memory sticks - persumable he has 3*128 - limiting him to 256megs, which is still plenty!

It has been too long a time since I got to spec. & build a PC, it is fun. And hence I am out of date on what chipstes rule the chicken coup.
PS What is your opinion of the Shuttle shoebox sized PCs?

PS What is your opinion of the Shuttle shoebox sized PCs?

Before the SV24 came out, Shuttle sold the mobo seperately as FV24. The second I saw a preview of the board, I put in my order. At the time there were only two suppliers in the US, so getting a board was not easy.

I put the FV24 in an In-Win FT621 case and it was pretty awesome. I used a Cyrix C3 700MHz as the processor and ran it without a fan. It was a good, little, quiet machine, but the integrated video was the pits. If they could integrate a Radeon onto that board, it would be perfect. There are newer small Shuttle machines coming out, but I have not been following the specs too closely.

I change my main machine at home about every 2 months just to stay on top of new things. I build a lot of computers for friends and my office, so testing newer stuff on myself is important to me. Currently at home I am running an IWill XP333 mated to an Athlon XP 1600+. I am pleased with the performance of the board, but it uses an ALi chipset. In my experience ALi has always had problems with certain keyboards. I use KeyTronic keyboards almost exclusively, but ALi chipsets sometimes won't boot because they can't detect them.

Constantly buying new stuff results in a ton of used hardware. Someday I will get around to posting a list of what I have.