budget upgrading

[puzld]

Dh is sitting here with a game or two he cant play. Mx Payne2 in one & sims 2 is on the way & I told him NOT to bring home doom3 & expect me to make it work LOL.
I'm looking to upgade my mobo,cpu, which I'm sure means memory as well. We'll also need a vid. card. I have been reading & reading the review sites tom's, anandtech. Now my head is spinning. It looks like if I want upgradeability the only way to go is Athlon 64. But athlon xp looks more like our budget. Can u help me get the most bang for a buck. Looking to spend $300 can push to $400. The more I look the more it all runs together. Help Please...... & thank you for your time!

What we have now PIII 1000mhz
mobo Asus cuw-am/mew-am
Chipset Intel Whitney i810E
onboard sound,vid., & lan
OS windows ME (did not like xp)
HD seagate 40g U series 5(has suited us for now may upgrade later)
In-CD-RW DX-CDRX
Samsung DVD_ROM SD- 612B

 

[Demalii]

Wow.. that's.. really a budget..

-AMD 2500+
-A peice of crap mobo =/
-Depends on how fast your ram is.. for 512 pc3200 you're looking up to 80 and over for anything "average" should go with the kingston hyperx series
-Cheapest/best video card that's even worth spending money on is the 9600xt which is about 150...

 

[Regulus]

Ok, I went on newegg and looked for stuff that would be within yer budget. Note that I've never messed around w/AMD so what I found for your processor and mobo may NOT be that best choice, you'll have to confirm it with someone. But I do know that for gaming AMD is the choice processor. The memory I chose is the exact same type I have and so far it works fine. I'm pretty sure that the following are quite compatible w/each other, but again check with someone whose like at least a "Super Techi" 9which I am not." Anyways:

Mobo - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-170-112&depa=1 $84.00

Cpu - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-377&depa=1 $135.00

Mem - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-413&depa=1 $87.00

Vid - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-022&depa=1 $79.00

Total: $385.00

 

[Blackmoore]

You must note that with the 333Mhz FSB on that CPU its kind of worthless to buy PC3200 DDR when it will only run at 2700, unless you overclock

 

[puzld]

Thank you I appreciate you take the time to help me out. At least now I know its possible. And a BIG thank you for the links.