Yet another building a PC question

Looking for advice on a decent motherboard, case/power supply, and processor. I've always been an Intel guy but I'm not against going AMD. I'd like those three items to be under $500 if possible, I'm not looking for top of the line, but certainly decent.

I'm currently using a p4 2.6 gHz machine.

Things that are important to me are USB 2, Firewire, ability to hold at least 3 drives/2 cd rom, decent bus speed and all that shit that makes the i/o work fast.

I can build a PC just fine, but I'm not up on all the technologies and manufacturers. If anyone can post links directly to products I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance for any help.

why upgrade from a 2.6g now?

It's for another box, so not really an upgrade. It's in addition to.

AMD is still faster and cheaper.


Go with a AMD 64+ 3000 or 3200 venice core 939

for Motherboard, go with a brand name, but there's 2 schools of thought right now. It's about $200 cheaper to go agp and can still get basically same performance as a single PCI-E card right now. I went agp with a 6800gt 256 card. My thought being by the time I need a new video card, I'll need a new MB too.


check out newegg and build yer PC. almost the cheapest and great support/mail times.

Couldn't really think of a good board for you, because it is kinda hard to pick the right one out unless you know exactly what you are looking for (SATA/IDE, DDR/DDR2, PCI E/AGP, etc. etc.) But this is some shit I found...

http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-130-501&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-198&depa=1

That puts you close to your limit...but you can easily pick up a case with like a 400 watt power supply for like 50-100 dollars depending on what you are looking for. Didn't find a link to a good case either, because they are pretty much opinions on how you want it to look.

I checked Newegg for the board I bought last May and they only have refurb, but it's the Abit KV8-Max3. Supports SATA, 1394, USB 1/2, Gig-E and some other stuff. The case I got from Newegg had a Plexiglas side panel with a fan, and I added 2 more fans to the rear of the case, and the motherboard has its own fan pulling in air from outside the case. The case also had a digital temperature readout on the front and cost $50, and I think it has a 350 watt power supply, which you might want to upgrade to a 400.

Board + case would probably run $125 or so, then get whatever Athlon64 you want with the remaining money.

I want that board I linked wth