Michael:
That's a tough question -- to a large extent, it boils down to two basic
questions: "What do you want to do with it?", and "How much money have
you got?" It's also complicated by all of the options that are available
now -- Intel vs AMD, Celeron vs Pentium, Duron vs Athlon, on-board
support, ISA slot, UDMA... the list goes on. I just went through this in
November, and ended up with an Abit KT7/Athlon 800 as the best fit for
me. YMMV. There are some good links at the PCBuild site that are devoted
to hardware, and a few hours poking around should give you a pretty good
idea of what's hot and what's not. One of my favorite sites is
www.anandtech.com. Although it's slanted towards top-end gaming
machines, there is an ongoing feature where they suggest several
different setups based on usage and budget. What makes these articles
especially useful is that the reasoning behind the recommendations is
explained, and alternatives are included. Additionally, the major
components are reviewed elsewhere on the site. (And, while you're there,
ponder this: Anand is a freshman at North Carolina State University; he
started this site when he was a high school sophomore.)
Good hunting...
Carroll Grigsby


Michael Eisenstadt wrote:
>
> Around 2 years ago I assembled a computer with
> the invaluable assistance of pcbuild subscribers.
>
> It has an Asus P2B m/b (440BX chipset) and a
> Celeron 300 overclocked to 450Mb. Never had
> any problems with it.
>
> Now I mean to assemble another box. What is
> the current best combo of m/b and processor
> in terms of quality and cost? Perhaps there
> is a FAQ on this subject that you are prepared
> to recommend.
>
> Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
>
> Michael Eisenstadt

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