Ready to upgrade, need some thoughts:

[WanderingStar]

OK. I have and AMD K6 333 processor on an EPoX EP-51 VPXC PCI chipset ZIF socket 7 motherboard that uses SDRAM and supports ATX power connector, and AWARD Plug n Play BIOS. Oh, and 96MB RAM is installed. (Win98 OS).

I have NO IDEA what any of this is :/

I have $250 tops to spend, and have found these:
AMD K6 -2/500 w/heatsink and fan for about $60 (includes S/H) , an Aopen/Acer AX59Pro III 1MB cache socket 7 ATX that supports up
to K6 III 500 motherboard for $72.95 (-S/H), and an ATI Rage video card 16MB for about $50, (my S3Virge -DX/GX PCI (375/385) 4MB video card is glued to my motherboard, so I have to have the new video card.

What I need help with, is will all this new stuff work together properly if I buy these things? I've got ONE shot at this. Also, what's your recommendation for a power supply? And is there anything important I've forgotten to include that I really need to make this work? Thanks so much for help, hints, directions...Or better yet-if any body here lives near Norhtampton, MA, would you just come over? :-)

[RayH]

I really don't know what you want to accomplish with the upgrade. But for general computing purposes, you might not really find a significant difference going from 333 to 500!

Just spend about $30 and get another 64 MB of RAM. That might make a slight difference. For about $60, you can get a 32 MB ATI Rage. But I would get another video card, unless you want to stick a DVD unit in your computer. The Rage supports DVD through hardware, and MAY come with a DVD player! That is where the value in a Rage card is. Some DVD players can cost more than the ATI card itself!

But for a simple upgrade, be a bit more patient. Let the price of the Celerons and/or PIIIs drop a bit more. Get a board with an Intel chipset and get an Intel microprocessor.

AMD has always made a reliable and excellent microprocessor. But the T-Birds, Durons, and Athlons are all built on boards with VIA chipsets. VIA chipsets can drive a novice batty! They could be like owning a FIAT or old MG car! You gotta like to tinker!

Intel built on an Intel chipset will probably give you less backtalk. It won't be the speed demon for the dollar. But it should be reliable!

[daverme]

First, the items you mentioned suggest you are looking for a rather major upgrade and that will be hard to do for $250. So you first need to determine what is most important to you.

I agree with most of what RayH has said although I would COMPLETELY AVOID putting an ATi card in a mobo with any non-Intel chipset. I have tried at least three different combinations of ATi cards with VIA and ALi chipsets and NEVER had any success. I would go with the nVidia chip. Having said that, I think a 32MB video card vs a 4MB card is your best shot at seeing some noticable improvement, if speed is what you are after.

Regarding the CPU and mobo upgrade: Will your CASE support an ATX mobo ??? You current mobo is Socket 7 and, even though it has an ATX power connector, it may in fact be an AT mobo, meaning your case is an AT case. BIG DIFFERENCE !!! An ATX mobo WILL NOT fit into an AT case, and vice versa (although some can be converted).

One more thing: I'm not sure if the memory you have is SIMM memory or DIMM memory. Any new mobo is very likely to accept only DIMM memory so, to really improve SPEED, you're possibly looking at (a) new mobo, (b) new CPU, (c) new case, (d) new memory, (e) new video card. The tab for that is likely to be in the $500-$700 range. I know cuz I just did it for my wife, and the tab was $680.