help w/ shopping for new system

Hi all,
Need some help. Looking to buy a new system (one computer that had worked just fine started crashing every 2-3 minutes two patches(updates) ago). Of course my systems falut. Trying to run down the issues causing the crashing I made the thing worse and now won't load windows . Anyway, got fiber optics dsl 10mgb/sec and need to know other than a 500 watt power supply, and 1 gig ram which is definately going to be included what kind of motherboard, video card & size would be optimal, and or any other component that would help? Please be easy a little tech slow and if possible a few different options if you could on each piece needed, looking at Tiger Direct's build to order and trying to stay under $900, can it be done?

My advice consists of first getting a quality motherboard. The more options and motherboard has, the longer it's lifespan because it gives you an increased upgrade path. For instance, an
ASUS A8N32-SLI Premium has IDE and SATA raid, gigabyte LAN, onboard sound, lots of USB ports, duel video card support (SLI), lots of overclocking options, etc.. You can also use just about any AMD CPU you want, everything from a budget Sempron to high-performance duel CPU chips to AMD's highest speed chip the FX 57(soon to be outdone by the duel FX 60). ASUS A8N32-SLI premium will run you around $200. The deluxe version can be a little cheaper but also has fewer features.

What that means is you can spend a little money on a motherboard that will last you quite a while, for instance, you can start off with a relatively inexpensive AMD 3500+ (which is plenty fast enough for just about anything you want to do in SL) and in a year or two when you feel the urge to upgrade you can slip in an AMD 4400+ X2 duel core CPU when the prices come down significantly without having to change any other hardware. Same thing with the video card, you can buy a nice NVIDIA 7800 GT and later on down the road when you have some extra cash and the prices have come down somewhat you can greatly increase your video performance by putting in a second 7800 GT card.

The next best favor you can do yourself is not to skimp on memory. Buying good memory will save you a lot of headaches and crashing. The Corsair XMS-3500LL PRO memory chips are excellent and highly recommended since this is what I use and what ASUS recommends for their boards. High-end boards like the ASUS attain much higher performance if you use matched pairs of memory. I personally recommend going with two gigs of memory opposed to one gig but a matched pair 2 GB kit is going to run around $300. Of course, the Corsair XMS 3200 which is just slightly slower can be had at around $200 for a matched set of 2 GB(actually a good choice if you don't intend to overclock much). One gig will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $100.

The CPU you choose won't actually make a whole lot of difference in SL since AMD does not make a bad 939 based CPU. Even the budget Semprons work reasonably well with SL unfortunately AMD has yet to release 939 based Sempron CPUs to the retail market. For me, once I went duel core I will never go back. My 4400+ X2 duel core allows me to run SL and Photoshop at the same time without slowing either one down. Oddly enough, the 4400+ X2 is roughly equivalent to the FX 53 CPU, is about the same price but has twice the processing capability and I managed to overclock to 4800+ speed. The big drawback is the chip is still mighty pricey at near $500. Then again the FX 57 is over $1000, single core, and not all that much faster than the 4400+. A duel core 3800+ is running around $300.

Of course, you can see that $900 got burned up pretty quick and it still didn't get you a video card,hard drive, case or much of anything else.

A solid, higher end Second Life machine for less than $1200 can be built well enough though assuming you can reuse your case, CD drive, etc.:

ASUS A8N32-SLI Premium $200
two gig set Corsair XMS 3200 $200
AMD 3800+ X2 CPU $300
NVIDIA 7800 GT video card $300
Western Digital SATA II hard drive 16 MB cache 250 GB $100
Antec TruePower 2.0 TP-II 550 550W $80

you can of course knock the price down some and still have a good machine for less than $900, again assuming you can use your case, CD drive etc.

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium(if they are still available) $150
1 gig set Corsair XMS 3200 $100
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU $200
NVIDIA 6800 GS video card $200
Western Digital SATA II hard drive 16 MB cache 250 GB $100
Antec TruePower 2.0 TP-II 550 550W $80