Question : Problem: Compatible Components "Figuring what goods are good for my particular system!

 Hi, I'm asking you this just plain outright...what the! I've tried the manufacturers website to see what processors or RAM is compatible with my system, but the site does not list my chipset compatibilities. All I would like to know is what is the best "Prosessor" I can upgrade to, and what type of "RAM" I should purchase. As far as I can tell, regarding the "RAM", I should upgrade my (512Mb-DDR) of "RAM" to...just for now, for which I can afford is (512MB-DDR-PC2100-266)which would equal (10024)MB's of Awesome "RAM". Just a question, does the "Front-Side-Bus-Speed" have to match the speed of the "RAM" that I purchase to be completely compatible.

System Specs: Windown XP (Home Edition)    (OS)
                      PCDDR266-SystemBoard         (System-Board-FSB-Mhz)
                      M825 socket "A"                     (Chipset I.D.)
                     AMD (Athlon XP 2400+)            (Default Processor)
                     512MB's DDR 266Mhz RAM        (Installed default RAM??)
                     DirectX V9.0b                           (Most current version of DX)
I just would like to know what I can upgrade my computer to!

Thanks!

Answer : Problem: Compatible Components "Figuring what goods are good for my particular system!

It's really the confusion generated by the manufacturers - see my first note about FSB.  When Intel says 800 FSB, it's actually 200 on the motherboard.  When AMD says 266, it's actually 133 on the motherboard.  In any event, the 2600+ is the limit for this BIOS and motherboard combination.  The upgrade is very simple: since the two cpus differ only by their multipliers, you can take the old one out and drop the new one in, without setting any jumpers.  You should scrape off any old thermal compound from the heatsink, if you are going to reuse it, and apply a drop of Arctic Silver 5.

PC2100 should work well with 133FSB, but to be really sure, look up your motherboard and model on www.crucial.com and see what memory they recommend.  The ones you want to buy should have specs just as good or better, in the timings.