My system is getting rusty somewhat, so I'm in dare need to ask for advice on proper combination for upgrade. Since, nVidia FX will not be available until Feb 2003 I will either stick with my GF3 Ti200 for now, or go for GF4 Ti4600 (is this card OK for multimonitor setup?)The bottomline is motherboard and CPU. After weeks of research and searching through this forum I decided to go for AMD XP 2700. Now to the question: what would be the best, most comprehensively beefed up motherboard for this chip? The one with all the bells and whistles being a long-term investment for future upgrades. Price is not the major factor here.Thanks for your hints.DonMy current system specs:AMD Athlon 1.2GhzASUS A7V133 200Mhz512MB SDRAMnVidia GF3 Ti200 (running on 40.72)Sony Trinitron 19'CH Yoke USB + CH Pro Pedals http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Hi Don,It's been a while since I've been through this forum, and your post caught my attention. If money is no obstacle, then is the mainboard for you. It's top on my wish list. Just remember, the board is rated for DDR400, but if you do a little homework on it, you'll find that it actually runs better with DDR333. I can't tell you why for sure, but if memory serves me correct, the major reason is that with DDR333, you'll be running synchronously with the 166 FSB on the XP2700. Note that this board uses dual-channel memory, so to really get a good bang out of it, you'll want two sticks of DDR2700 (or better yet, Corsair DDR3200) memory. Like the XP2700, I believe that it may be difficult right now to get the above goodies until production picks up. But once it's out, it should be a blast.Edit - almost forgot. Hang onto your GF3 card for now. The benefit you'll gain from a GF4, IMHO, is not worth the cost. Instead, hold out for the next generation nVidia card.Edit2 - You renewed my interest in this board. [link:www17.tomshardware.com/mainboard/02q4/021111/]Here is a good review from Tom's Hardware that should get you started.

David,Are you saying that I should install two sticks for it to work right? That seems a bit strange, but heck, this might be the standard now.As far as availability of the hardware mentioned initially it seems not to be a real problem to get, really. I found them at very competitive prices at www.pricewatch.com They have wide variety of single products as well as combos (mobo with chip already installed). That is what I was looking at.I agree with you, that it might be worth to wait for the next generation FX graphics to come out and settle down a bit (so the prices become reasonable).Thank you very much indeed for your comments.DonMy system specs:AMD Athlon 1.2GhzASUS A7V133 200Mhz512MB SDRAMnVidia GF3 Ti200 (running on 40.72)Sony Trinitron 19'CH Yoke USB + CH Pro Pedals http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Hi don i would also wait for the new geforce card or ati good luck on your upgrade am also do for in upgrade soon myself hehe.get the best possble you can even if you have to wait a few weeks for cash.

Well, I know. I kept on telling myself to wait for another 'brand new' technology piece of hardware but seems like the wait is over. There will always be something on the horizon. It is painful to jump into new products too fast, as you suffer tremendously seeing them devaluate in a very short time.DonMy system specs:AMD Athlon 1.2GhzASUS A7V133 200Mhz512MB SDRAMnVidia GF3 Ti200 (running on 40.72)Sony Trinitron 19'CH Yoke USB + CH Pro Pedals http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Your system isnt too bad really. I almost have the same system specs almost, and i'm quite happy with it. Although this is coming from a person who was stuck on a slow AMD Krap6-400 (LOL) system for 3 years, just about anything on the market now is 10x faster LOL. I'm likely to stay put with my Athlon 1.2GHz and Radeon 7200 for another 2-3 years LOL.

Hi Don,Yes indeed, you do want two memory sticks. The dual channel Memory will increase the available bandwidth, but only if you have two of the memory slots filled. You can see the link to Tom's Hardware I provided for more details.