New Motherboard and CPU suggestions

I want to upgrade my system but I have been out of the game for so long I am not sure what is the greatest stuff to get right now. What kind of buss speed should I be looking for? What kind of memory, what kind of CPU? I ran a Belarc scan so you could see what i have now:

Operating System
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (build 2600)

Processor a
3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Drives
1150.85 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
577.71 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

ATAPI DVD DD 8X16X8X16 [CD-ROM drive]
HP CD-Writer+ 9100 [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

WD 5000AAV External USB Device [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 3
WDC WD1200JD-00HBB0 [Hard drive] (120.03 GB) -- drive 1
WDC WD307AA-00BAA0 [Hard drive] (30.76 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMA2F1965576, rev 10.09K11, SMART Status: Healthy
WDC WD5000AAKS-00YGA0 [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 2, s/n WD-WCAS80610480, rev 12.01C02, SMART Status: Healthy

System Model
Intel Corporation

Main Circuit Board b
Board: Intel Corporation D865PERL AAC27646-210
Serial Number: AZRL40104490
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Intel Corp. RL86510A.86A.0071.P13.0401221036 01/22/2004

Memory Modules c,d
3366 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'J5G1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'J5G2' has 1024 MB
Slot 'J5H1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'J5H2' has 1024 MB

Local Drive Volumes
c: (NTFS on drive 1)
120.02 GB

d: (FAT32 on drive 0)
30.74 GB

g: (FAT32 on drive 3)
499.98 GB

h: (NTFS on drive 2)
500.11 GB

Display
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 [Display adapter]
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 [Display adapter]
Default Monitor
DELL 2007WFP [Monitor] (20.0"vis, s/n HF73082P1RCL, February 2008)

Would like some recommendations on a new CPU and motherboard. I do not do any gaming but I load up with programs like Bridge, large Photoshop files, Dreamweaver, Firefox, Outlook, iTunes, various Office programs, all at the same time. Currently I notice some pretty good strain on the ol' girl after a while. I just had a guy come out and and clean of a lot of crap and fine tune it and i did notice quite a nice improvement in speed but I still would like some more.

I have been doing a little reading here and I see that people are paying next to nothing for memory. I just bought 2G of Kingston DDR for $200. Am i missing something here or am I just getting ripped off big time?

Also I noticed that my system is only noticing 3G of RAM when I have four in there. Any reason for this?

Many, many thanks,
Houston

 

Hey Houston,

Let me try to answer your questions:
Your system is showing only 3GB out of 4 because 32-bit Windows supports a max of 3GB RAM. To get the full 4GB you need 64-bit Vista.

Im not sure if you bought DDR3 or DDR2? $200 for 2GB DDR2 is a rip off. Normally 2GB costs about $20. DDR3 costs a lot more and some high end modules reach sky high prices like that.

If you want a new CPU there are many good choices from Intel. For example if you want ok performance with little cost, E5200 (2MB cache, 800MHz FSB, 2.5GHz) costs around $80.
For gaming and heavy programs go with E8xxx (6MB cache, 1333 FSB) ranging $150-$200 or quad core Qxxx processors ($200 and up)
Also if you want the finest, the new Core i7s are just out, and the cheapest one of them costs about $300 but it's said to be really good.

Your mainboard will be a bottleneck for the new processor since its chipset is so old and it doesnt support DDR2. I suggest buying a new one, either P35 or P45 board, they cost $50-$150.

You will also need DDR2 memory, which is cheap like I said, about $10 per 1GB.

A decent graphics card costs $50 and up. For ATI cards, look for Radeon HD3xxx and HD4xxx models.

Hope this helps

 

The memory is Kingston 1GB DDR PC2700. It doesn't say if it is DDR2 or DDR3. Crap, Now I have to upgrade to Vista to get 4GIG. not really happy about that. I hear scary things about Vista. What would be your thoughts?

I will be returning the memory tomorrow for sure. I thought that sounded rather strange. I would love to know where you finding 1G of DDR3 memory for $10.00? Care to share?

Who makes the P35 and P45 boards?

I have the rest of the stuff.

I really appreciate your input.

 

PC2700 is DDR memory. It is compatible with your old system, but it's slow and would not work with a new motherboard and CPU.

I have Vista in two systems now and I like it so much more than XP. It has proven out to be a very stable system and it has not crashed even once! The scary talk is mainly from those guys who have not even tried Vista. It's always the same thing when a new OS comes out. If you want the 4GB memory, remember to buy a 64-bit Vista and not 32-bit.

You can't buy DDR3 for $10, I was talking about DDR2. However, you won't be needing DDR3 unless you go with the newest Core i7 CPU.

Cheap DDR2 is everywhere, for example this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184After mail-in rebate the price is $25, that's less than $10 per GB!

P35 and P45 are Intel's chipsets. Look for any major manufacturer, such as Asus, Gigabyte or MSI for mainboards. They all have boards with P35 or P45 chipsets. Also P43, P31 and basically all Intel's modern chipsets will do.

For example, here's a good P45 board that I have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131295
P31 boards are cheaper and will do just as well.