Wow... what a comprehensive response. I really really appreciated it.

So, I guess I will spend about $150 on CPU, mainboard, and memory. On top
of that it looks like I will have to spend a little more on the case/PSU.
My current PC is in an ATX case, but I didn't like it that much because it's
kinda too big anyway. It probably will put me above the original $200
budget a little bit, but I think that's still very reasonable. Thank you
very much!!

One more question;

Now that you mentioned a new OS, do you mean Win 9X won't be able to take
advantage of the full power of new hardware? Or, did you mean worse - Win
9x won't even run on a new machine??? I am running Win 98 on my old PC. I
haven't upgraded to new versions because I never felt a need. Maybe, I
actually got "a reason" to upgrade now!

I know Win 2K is NT and Win XP is 9X family. There have been a few
compatibility issues between NT and 9X, especially playing games and stuff.
Is it still true with Win 2K and Win XP?



"Ancra" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 09:03:26 -0500, "_Jung"
wrote:

Hello,

The last time I have built a PC was all the way back in last century,
1997
to be exact, and after a short and very brief surfing on the web, I have
come to realize there had been soooo much change in the PC industry since
then, which actually wasn't that much of surprise. I am just
overwhelmed.

Anyway, the fastest PC in my house is PII 266. Believe or not, this guy
is
still good enough for the most of the stuff I do (I don't play games that
much, in other words). However, recently I've been running quite a few
MPEG
encoding jobs. I collect animations and after downloading AVI files, I
need
to convert (encode) them to MPG so that I can put them on CD (Video CD).
So, I thought now maybe I can use a little bit faster computer.

I'm not trying to get a super duper mega power PC.

You will in fact get a "super duper mega power PC" for insignificantly
more money than the very bottom stuff. Some Duron/Celeron (budget)
solutions can make use of PC133 memory, but since you need new RAM
anyway, and PC2100, PC2700 isn't more expensive, get a 'fullsize' CPU.


You can get something like this:

Athlon XP 1700+ T-bred $42
(Without cooler)

Shuttle AK38N KT333 (VIA KT333) $47

Samsung DDR333 PC2700 CAS 2.5 256MB $44

You might need a new case/PSU, ATX format? And I think you need a new
OS, unless you can find all the correct patches for your W95? If you
have W98, try install it and then immediatly go to Windows Update,
before installing mobo drivers, and install all system stuff. Might
work. I don't know.

As a matter of fact, I
would like to spend less than $200 for CPU and Mainboard (and possibly
case
and memories if I must get new ones for the new CPU and Mainboard).

I know
some people will consider it as a total waste of money - spending any
money
to build such a sub par system.

- NOT AT ALL! - It won't be a sub par system. And on the contrary, I
consider spending money at the cutting edge, $650 for 3.2GHz P4, cpu
alone, a 'not-usefully-more-powerful-cpu' "as a total waste of money".

However, I am quite certain this $200 (or
less) system will outperform my current computer by a huge margin, and
that's all I want.

The probelm is that there are so many different types of CPU's; Xeon,
Opteron, Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP, Duron, Pentium 4, Pentium III,
Pentium II Xeon, Celeron...... And I have no idea which one's right for
me.
So, which CPU and mainboard should I get? Also, would there be a web
site
that explains what all these CPU types and models are and nicely compare
them?

Simple: Intel P4 and AMD Athlon XP are the two 'fullsize' desktop
cpus. Everything else is either castrated budget versions, server
cpus, or obsolete.

Xeon: Intels 32-bit server cpu. - Ignore!

Opteron: AMDs 64-bit server cpu. - Ignore!

Athlon: Obsolete, spare part at prices as high as much better cpu's. -
Ignore! Consider very good deals on secondhand T-bird (Thunderbird),
socket mounted 800MHz upwards.

************
Athlon XP: - This is the one you want!
Supports SSE. Comes in three generations. Palomino. T-bred
(Thoroughbred), same but smaller chip uses less power. Barton, same as
T-bred but bigger level 2 cache.

The Athlon XP is very efficient per clock, so AMD are not using
clockspeed to rate them, as that would make a poor impression against
Intels high, but impotent, clockspeeds.

An Athlon XP is performance rated with a number that isn't its
clockspeed. The number corresponds well to theoretic MHz of a PIIIe,
of similar performance, except for floating point math, where the
Athlon is 40% faster. It's more difficult to correlate against the P4,
since the P4's performance is so erratic. P4s are generally less
efficient (per clock) than PIIIs, but have SSE2 instructions that they
use with very good effect on some apps. Athlon XP rating and P4 MHz
correlates well on games, where the P4's low efficiency and SSE2
advantage cancels each other. On oldfashioned apps, the Athlon has a
solid advantage, while the P4 is better on newer media apps and some
other SSE2 apps.
************

Athlon MP: AMDs 32-bit server cpu. - Ignore!

Athlon64 : Future 64-bit '86 cpu. Supports SSE2. Launched soon now...
Outside your budget. -Ignore!

Duron: Semiobsolete budget cpu. Kicks Celerons ass, but you get a real
Athlon XP for the same kind of money.

Duron pro: Don't know anything about it. I guess it's a new Duron
based on the Athlon XP core rather than the old Athlon core. Could be
just a 're-marketing' trick to avoid MHz comparisions with the
Celeron-P4, though.

Pentium 4: Poor value if you're on a budget. Supports SSE2. Cheap P4s
are more expensive and slower than cheap Athlon XPs. Easier to build
though. And the 2.4GHz P4C 800FSB-HT at less than $200 isn't too
shabby. P4s are nice if you intend to spend $180-$700 on the cpu
alone. Otherwise, forget it. And it's the 800FSB variants you want.
(I'm kinda keen to try the 2.8GHz800FSB, which I believe is fast and
affordable, but I already have an old slow 2.4GHz and a XP3000+, so I
think I'm gonna wait for the Athlon64.)

Pentium III: Nice, but obsolete spare part. Spare part prices.
Consider very good deals on second hand 600-1000MHz, though.
Supports SSE.

Pentium II Xeon: Original Xeon. Longlifed, brilliant, in its time, but
now obsolete 32-bit server cpu. - Ignore!

Celeron: Obsolete budget version of the PII. - Ignore!

Celeron Tualatin: Nice, but discontinued budget cpu, contemporary of
late PIIIs and early P4s. Doesn't support SSE2, but otherwise as fast
as later P4-Celeron, despite much lower clockspeed.

Celeron P4: Poor value "budget" cpu from Intel. Cheaper Athlon XPs
****s all over it! Main reason for its existance is that Intel have
figured out that the world is full of fools that buy MHz instead of
performance.


ancra