Go AMD64 Socket 939. The current mainboards just need a BIOS flash upgrade to support the Athlon64 x2. And you'll be able to plug in up to 4 GB of RAM. PCI-Express or AGP? If your graphics card is still alive and it's an AGP, you might want to keep it. On the other hand, AGP is rapidly being deprecated now. THere are fewer and fewer AGP graphics cards on the market, and the PCI-Express cards are soaring - and rapidly becoming cheaper than their AGP counterparts. Same goes for the mainboards. So - Athlon64 S939, PCI Express mainboard and graphics card. Don't shell out for SLI, that's only useful for the most recent heavy 3D games. Pick up a mid-end nVidia PCI-Express card (not ATI, you'll want good OpenGL support), they're not too pricey. Don't be cheap when it comes to case and power supply. A good power supply may cost a few bucks more, but you definitely don't want an unstable (as in unstable voltage) power supply. A silent one is also preferable to a cheap "vacuum cleaner". A good solid case will reduce noise and mechanical defects - once a bad case managed to warp a CD player, effectively destroying the thing and the CD in it. And don't be cheap about installing fans either. Pabst fans are pretty expensive, but they're silent and reliable. Keep it cool, keep it working!

The pen is mightier than the sword. But if you literally want to have some impact, use a typewriter

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