building to the cutting edge. My highest priority is a stable and trouble
free machine made up of tried and tested components. Speed is my next
highest priority. Third priority is a quiet system. My budget can stand
some moderate upgrading of the components below, if it will mean a better
machine.

Here is my first and very tentative approximation of how to go about it.

Thank you all very much for any input and recommendations about better
alternatives, and for pointing out any bottleneck or overkill.

MOTHERBOARD:
ABIT NF7-S
or ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXE Rev.2.0 ?
(or possibly GIGABYTE GA-7N400 Pro2 ?)
CPU:
Barton XP2800
(or XP2500 OC to FSB 400 ?)
MEMORY: 2x512MB DDR400 operating as dual channel,
HD: Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM
DVD WRITER: Dual Layer, 12X or 16X
FLOPPY/MEMORY CARD READER: MITSUMI FA404A
VIDEO CARD: Chaintech FX20 (GeForce 5200, 128MB)
CASE: EVERCASE E4252

OK, you have some goals that conflict with each other, and some components
that conflict with your goals. If your power supply is fairly new and has
SATA and P4 connectors like this one he

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/produc...cers/index.htm

Then that's a good start. Otherwise, I'd suggest a newer power supply.
It's generally not a good idea to recycle a power supply into a new system,
as the power supply is the most frequent failure point, and it is the only
component that is likely to "kill" other components WHEN (not if) it fails.

Stability is your first priority, but oddly you are entertaining the idea of
possibly overclocking. You can have stability or overclocking, one OR the
other. Don't listen to the idiots who will scream that it's possible to do
both. (don't count on being that lucky . . . )

Speed is your 2nd priority, but you are looking at possibly going from
Athlon XP to Athlon XP. Generally, an increase in clock speed will not
translate to a noticeably faster system. If you're going to spend money on
an upgrade, do it in a way that will translate to a faster system.

Quiet is your third goal, but if you stick with the Athlon XP platform
(don't do it), you've already honed in on two motherboards that have really
noisy cooling fans on their northbridge chipsets. A fan on the northbridge
is not necessary, not even for overclocking (which you are NOT going to do,
RIGHT?!?), and it just adds tons of noise to the system. Choose a mainboard
that is passively cooled, you will have plenty of choice there.

If you want to accomplish your goal of higher speed, you need to set your
sights just a tad higher. Look for an 800FSB P4 processor on just about ANY
(passively cooled) motherboard that will handle it. Or if your budget can
stretch that far, jump straight to an Athlon 64 in the ~3200 ~3500 range.
Again, for the Athlon64, find a passively cooled mainboard. While your
choice of video card was a good match for the system you originally
envisioned, it would be somewhat of a bottleneck for anything faster. I'd
suggest something like the Sappire Radeon 9600 or Sapphire Radeon 9600 XT
(be sure to get a passively cooled one!). While those aren't cutting edge
either, they won't be quite as much of a bottleneck as a 5200. Plus, they
are silent. Just be aware that different versions exist, and choose one
without a cooling fan. -Dave