I am looking to upgrade , what do you think is the best middle of the road
( and price range ) motherboard chipset and cpu from last year (2004) ?  I
am hoping to get a good deal on the older but still good  stuff .
Cheers

It really depends on the pricing and availability of various models
where you live.

Around the US the 754 socket AMD 64 motherboards and processor are
very close to many older nforce2 Athlon XP combos in the higher end
nowadays.  At newegg for example there are some chaintechs and biostar
nforce3 boards for $58 or so + 128 for a 2800 AMD 64 puts it around
$200.

If you spend a bit more you can get a AMD 64 939 socket 3000 and
socket 939 board with AGP and PCI slots around $260+ or so.

If you want to go lower try a nforce2 board for around $58 or so and a
sempron 2300 retail CPU for $63.

The next step up would be a Barton 2500 XP which OCes easily to 3200.
You cant get the retail anymore at newegg only the OEM for 83 or so.
You have to get a fan/heatsink for it - another 20 or so.

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