Upgrade Time: Advice Needed

Ok, for starters, check my sig for my current system. Im planning on doing a major upgrade consisting of the motherboard, CPU and ram.

I am planning on going with a nForce2 Athlon XP system. I am working under a price cap of about $250. In my first configuration i would get an Abit NF7 with a 2500+. The second option would be an Abit AN7(nForce 2 Ultra 400 chipset) and a slower chip like a 2000+ or 1900+. The first option seems better to me but im just curious as to how important the Ultra 400 version of nForce 2 is to performance. I am open to motherboard types and manufacures but the Abits are most appealing to me right now.

For ram im looking to some buffalo, crucial, or kingston PC2700 in a 512MB stick that may be doubled in the future for a nice performance upgrade sacraficing the short term boost of dual channel for the gain of performance in the long run that i cannot afford now. I was hoping to be able to get some PC3000 ram in the budget for some overclocking headroom but i dont think that will work unless i cut back processor costs. Basically this comes down to a question of how well the different manufactures will overclock and how far i will be able to push them. I would like to get the FSB up as high as possible but since im using an Athelon XP on nForce 2 i will be able to raise multiplier if ram becomes a bottleneck.

Cliffnotes:
-NF7 and 2500+ or 2400+ OR AN7 and 2000+?
-In the case i get the NF7 2500+ OR 2400+?
-Which brand of ram should i get for best o/cability?

Go with the NF7 and 2500XP for motherboard and CPU, you might want to check out the Epox 8RDA3+ which is a great nforce 2 ultra board, but definately go with the 2500XP over the 2400XP unless someone comes up with a way of activating the extra 256 cache on the thorton core(2400XP) For Ram I would go with Crucial because its just a high quality ram and great for overclocking, its what I use. You might want to try for the PC3200 though because its helpful if you want to push that FSB

I just checked the prices at NewEgg. Although this is $20 over what you stated still would be a good setup. Plus you can sell your old stuff to recoupe the extra that you had to spend.

ABit NF7-S

AMD 2500+

Muskin 512meg PC-3200

I would stay away from the AN7 until ver. 2 comes out. Look over in this thread and see what everyone is saying about it. It's nasty

thanks for the warning on the AN7, sounds like ABit f'ed up majorly this time around. Since im 16 and too much of a computer nerd to spend time working most of this will be coming from my parents so a pricetag of 274 might work if i really go for it. And if not maybee i can add some of my moneys in to the consideration. Thanks for the advice.