Best upgrade for IWILL KK266?

[Giscardo]

I'm running an IWILL KK266 with an Athlon (non-XP) 1.2 overclocked to 1.34GHz, with 256megs of PC133 SDRAM (not DDR) running at around 150-159 MHz.

It's been about a couple years since I have really been into PC hardware, and I'm getting the fever to upgrade again but I've been out of the loop. I want to know what the best cheap upgrade I can do with this system is. I can use DDR RAM on this mobo right? I will probably have to take out the existing SDRAM to do that though. I am hoping to keep my motherboard for now, and just upgrade the cpu and ram, and maybe the video card to a ATI 9500 (hope to softmod to 9700).

My main concern is the memory. If i upgrade to an Athlon64 in around a year, I want to be able to keep whatever RAM I buy now. Is this even an option? Or should I just upgrade the video card? And the hard drive too? Man it sucks to have all outdated hardware. My HD is an old 20 gig, and i think it's causing a lot of slow down.

What's the highest CPU I can put into this IWILL?

 

[Giscardo]

Forgot to add that I will consider overclocking too, what are the current best overclockers for AMD chips?

 

[Giscardo]

^

 

[INemtsev]

For now get "epox EP-8RDA3G" and DDR400 by OCZ and everything else is fine....

 

[redhatlinux]

I think your SOL with DDR ram on the KK266, only supports PC133 IIRC.

 

[MaDDaWg1018]

yep, redhat is correct. i also have a kk266 w/ an athlon tbird 266 fsb @ 1.33 stock. i think the highest you can go on the iwill is up to 1.5ghz i believe (someone correct me if im wrong). in my opinion, its not worth upgrading the processor alone while using the same motherboard. you can find a motherboard with ddr ram support and higher processing capabilities for pretty cheap nowadays, so i'd say just upgrade both. but yah, depends how much you want to shell out. i just ordered an amd xp barton 2500+ and a chaintech 7njl3 mobo and both cost me a little less than 150, including shipping and what not. add a cooling unit, some ddr ram (im getting pc2700 512mb), and maybe some thermal paste if necessary, and thatll run you around 120 or so. so pretty much, im upgrading everything for about 270.

as far as o/cing. the 2500+ barton overclocks pretty damn well from what i heard. its a matter of how well your cooling will be, what kind of motherboard you get (i didnt get the GREATEST one, but it'll do the job. comes w/ nforce2 chipset too), and other small factors.

but like i said, its a matter of how much u have to work with. good luck.