the storm fried my computer. kinda sucks but not a huge loss… it was a HP 600mhz celeron thats about 6 years old
i’d like to build one now… something cheap, but i also dont mind spending a couple extra bucks if theres something else thats worth it.
i have heard amd is better than intel, but i also know nothing about amd chips.
so what do you guys recommend?
uses would be games, photo editing, programming, web…
Spell out your budget. If you play games, expect to spend at least half on a really good video card, fill out the rest of the system with what’s left.
pricewatch is good. keep an eye out for some semi-complete systems. when i built my computer i got a smokin deal on a case/ps/mobo/processor, preassembled.
yea, i was looking at bare bone systems on pricewatch.
but i was unsure about the whole amd vs intel thing
for the mobo and cpu i dont really want to spend more than $300
IMO amd vs intel is like sti vs evo. just comes down to preference.
You picked a decent time,the prices of socket 939 processors are incredibly low.
If you enter the coupon code AMDROCKS for this FX-55 it drops down to $139.
Even though its single core,its still a beast of a processor and great for gaming.
Avoid AM2 
Myself, and other people had problems with RAM. I went with 939, memory, and chip are good. I think the Duo/core2 lineups for AMD and intel are dropping in price as well.
just watch slickdeals.net.
Sometimes dell runs those mini servers for 199, and usually they have high end desktops for like 549.
tigerdirect.com does some good barebones combos that get you a decent setup for cheap. I just built one for a friend with lots of bells and whistles for $500 and he will be getting like $100 in rebates (or should i say I will be getting $100 in rebates for my labor 
)