... now I have a compulsion to tell you guys I priced up a new computer for myself.

At the moment I have 333GB of formatted drives, 4 x drives and 1GB of DDR PC2700 (333) RAM withan Athlon 2500 and a Tagan 420Watt PSU

2 optical drives, DVD RW and a CD RW and a pretty crap graphics card.

I want a good PC thatll keep me going for a 2 years or more and I thought this would be good

Motherboard £40.45: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/120312
RAMx2 £90.08:       http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/93557
Hard drive £42.29:  http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/94403
Case £83.00:        http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/126946/rb/0
CPU £63.26:         http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/111290/rb/0
PSU £79.99 (now £61.68 ):         http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125186 Changed to this: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=204876
Graphics £95.65:    http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/126774

It came to almost £500 and I dont have the £££ to buy it now, do you think I should in about 3 or 4 months? or upgrade what I already have?

you are getting an Uber PSU, and a really low-end CPU?

Like I say it will keep me going for the next few years... I mean would my Tagan 420 Watt PSU do for that do you think ?

i would stick with the 420W PSU, and up the processor, you dont really want to be having anything less than 2.8ghz on a single core processor

I did want to buy new parts mainly, but my current mobo is equipped with 2 x SATA 1 connectors and its only Sckt A. Most retailers online only do Socket 939 and 754 as the earliest ones. I suppose I could go on ebay and find a good bargain...

yea i had that exact same problem

i wanted a better processor but my motherboard was about 5 years old, and was a socket A

so i just bought a new system

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-Athlon-XP-3200-2-2-GHz-AXDA3200DKV4E-NEW-FAN_W0QQitemZ250132594939QQihZ015QQcategoryZ44935QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Surprised how much SckA CPUs go for, well the high end ones anyway!

I like peas.

Is it my imagination or does it say Dual core on My CPU link?

I really am confused.

£500 is your budget?  When im sober again want me to try for a spec at that price?  

hell, my 6000+ with the 1950XT cost me _just_ under that.

Sure, if you want, I only did it out on a whim, I didnt really look at a budget... It really just came to that.

I have a nice case here already, its big, silver and has a purple/clear perspex front door, engraved with ATCS by Cooler Master

So I suppose I could use tis case, although I just wanted somthing new.

I could get it cheaper if I used my current case and PSU.

Hell, I might just get a HDD and a GB more of ram... and my Barton Core can go upto 400MHz cant it ?

Intel have a large price cut due the end of July so i would wait until then as AMD is sure to follow.
I still have a Barton in my spare rig , it has run @ 2600 in my prommie but now runs @ 2200mhz with only a little extra v/core.If your cooling is up to it this type of speed is easily achievable.
Your current PSU should be easily up to the task of powering   most/all new CPUs so i would not change that , only if you get an uber GFX would i consider a more powerful PSU.

Thanks bigsteve! Ill wait till early autumn