I have a $300 limit for CPU and MB.

**darrin** · 03-06-2002

What should I get?

Will be running Windows XP and I have all of the related components except memory and case which I plan to buy with the procedes from the sale of my 850E Slot 1 chip and SDRAM memory (1 256MB PC133 Corsair chip and two 64MB PC133 Siemens chips).

So, for $300 or less, what can I get?

BTW, I need a case but I have a new 300 watt ATX power supply.

Thanks!

:)

**Morgan_Lander** · 03-06-2002

Just a CPU and MB, correct? That's pretty easy. The Epox 8KHA+ is $91 at Newegg and a Retail Athlon XP 1800+ is just $152 there as well. The OEM and Retail 1900+ XP's are 188 and 199, repspectively.

**Anonymous** · 03-07-2002

Thanks.

Most folks (some on other forums) have said to go with the AMD chip.

Some of those though were saying to use the new KT333 based motherboard instead of the KT266 like the Epoch.

Hmmmmm...the price on that Epoch is pretty good though.

**Darthtanion** · 03-07-2002

The motherboards using the KT266A chipsets are very solid players, and they overclock well also. Add to that the prices of most of them, and you've got a pretty good deal. The KT333 boards will outperform the 266A boards, but not by a large margin.

Price vs performance - You'll do well with the EPoX board.

**darrin** · 03-08-2002

Well I ended up getting th new Soltek KT333 based board for $118 from newegg along with an AMD Athlon XP 1600 retail chip.

I'll let the board know how it goes.

Thanks for the info.