Upgrade Suggestions

[Charles]

First question

My last upgrade in 2000 included:
ASUS TUSL-2
Celeron 1.2
32 MB Video Card
512MB PC133 RAM
a good ATX Energmax PS P4 ready(don't have specs for PS at the moment but I know is a good one).
Maxtor 120G IDE Hard Drive
DVD-RW Drive
Linksys wireless card

I want to upgrade the motherboard, CPU, memory and possibly video card on this system listed above. I am not a gamer yet if I upgrade I want to be able to use Vista when it comes out and I want significant number crunching power to do DVD editing, recording sound editing. I have been out of the loop for a while yet when I look at CPU prices at Newegg I see a couple of options. My budget is between 300-400.

1. 531 3.0Ghz Prescott 775 $84
2. AMD 64 X2 3800+ SocketAM2 Windsor $135

Can you guys suggest other processors, motherboards, memory, video card, to do a decent upgrade to last for a few years?

Second question.

After this upgrade I want to upgrade a friends computer that has an Asus P3BF with a Celeron 600@900. The options are to upgrade with the TUSL-2 with the Celeron 1.2 mentioned above or to upgrade with an Asus CUV4-X with a 700@933. Either way I would put 512MB of 133 SDRAM.

Which upgrade would be a better option from performance, reliability and stability point of view?

Thanks.

[flanzig1]

If your looking to Vista and have a machine do CPU intensive work, I would wait and save up some more money to build a proper Vista ready PC. Your budget probably won't do the kind of up-grade you want. Good mobo for either of the CPUs you picked $75 to $100. 1gig of ram-$110/basic video card-$50 to $75/New OS-$90/PSU-$35-$50.

[Charles]

Are you saying chipsets are not Vista ready yet? As I read into it processors seems to be. Your math comes out to $510 which I can swing.(I don't need a power supply).

Are most people holding up for Vista ready hardware? If not can anyone else recommend an upgrade?

Thanks.

[flanzig1]

On the video card end for Vista, most people are getting mid-range hold cards until more DX10 cards are available. Most systems from the last 2 yrs probably can run Vista Basic with 1gig of ram. After that, need modern horsepower.
Intel mobo $76 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131041
Ram $108 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145568
PSU $44 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953
Video card $75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102641
OS $90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116169