Getting ready to uprade - opinions wanted

Finally decided it's time to upgrade the old 1Ghz AMD/Asus setup I have now.
I want to go to 2Ghz or above, staying with AMD, and most likely another Asus board, but I'm not opposed to other good, stable, flexible boards.
I'd like to hear your thoughts about what CPU/Motherboards combinations are working good, and where to get the best prices in the USA. I need to do this on somewhat of a budget though, preferably under $250.
I don't need "super ultra mondo" performance because I'm not a gamer, but I do need "pretty dang good" performance because I do plenty of music processing.
What are the differences between all these cores like the Barton, Thoroughbred, Thorton, etc?

Thanks,
Wolfe

 

Oh yeah, also, the board must be stable with older ATi Rage video cards...although a new card will come some time this year, maybe. I've heard of problems with some boards and ATi cards.

 

My $.02

nForce 2 chipset and AMD combo is solid!

 

I am using an nforce2 and the Athlon XP barton and it is rock solid steady. In fact my kids computers are the same setup. I have never had a setup as stable as this combo.

 

Yeah, I also agree. I would recommend an MSI K7N2 Delta-L motherboard (~$80), an Athlon XP 2500+ Barton processor (~$80), and 512 Mb of RAM (~$100). That's what is in my system and I have no complaints.

A great place to order from is www.newegg.com. It is my favorite, personally. Also, you could check out http://majorgeeks.pricegrabber.com.

 

Thanks guys, I think I'll definatley be going with NewEgg!

 

I like Newegg for everything... except when I buy a complete system. Then I usually go with MWave. They have motherboard bundles that you can buy and spend $9 to get pre-assembled and tested. Everything else I buy from Newegg, but the mobo, processor, and RAM come from MWave.

I makes life just a bit easier, since you don't have to worry about DOA mobo or RAM, and you don't have to put the HSF on the CPU.

 

I'm running a Gigabyte GA-7VAXP ( KT400 chipset ) with a AMD 2600+ & 1.5gigs of PC2700 & I've not had any problems at all.

 

The first time I went retail, I didn't (I normally go OEM).

Now that I saw the damage that was done, I will.

I replaced my motherboard a while back, and after cleaning off all the crap, I noticed my core was flawed. It certainly wasn't before when I first put it together.. It looks kinda like when you are welding, and a piece of slag sticks on the metal.

Well, a little pock mark on my core looks just like that.
No, its not on the side, its right smack in the middle of the core. There is no way my doing caused this to happen.

Never again will I use a thermal pad. Lame, lame, lame.