Unless someone has a miracle cure for my 6/16 post "No Video on Boot," I'm going to need to build a new system.

Would appreciate your recommendations for an AMD based system, as follows:

a) Win 7, 32 bit.
b) I'm not a gamer but would like to have a fast system - but don't need high priced video card.
c) I've always used ASUS motherboards and would like to stick with them - but would use another mfg based on recommendations here.
d) Non RAID.
e) Partial to Western Digital HD's - current system uses WD Raptors, but there may be better drives now; maybe an SSD for OS but need recommendations.
f) Will CONSIDER Intel if the overall system yields a better value/cost ratio.

Thanks for any input!Budget?

See my specs on left. Overall about US$1500Thanks, kpac. I want to spend $5-600 and will use my current case (not PSU, though) and optical drive.

Your specs are more than I need. I'm thinking more along the lines of Phenom II x 2 555 Callisto @ 3.2 GHz (and maybe unlock to 3 or 4 cores, if I'm lucky) and an ASUS M4A87TD or M4N75TD - btw, any thoughts on AMD chipset v. NVIDIA?

What about triple channel v. dual channel relative to performance? In my case (32 bit), I'd be looking at 3 x 1 GB triple channel or 2 x 2 GB dual channel so I suspect that the additional half GB +/- of usable RAM on dual channel would out weigh any performance advantage to the triple channel, but I don't know.

Any thoughts on hard drives? SSD?

For $600, reusing your case and optical drive, you can get a nice system if you're not gaming.
I specced out an Intel i3 based build for $415 including shipping, minus $40 rebates. That's using the onboard graphics on the i3, which are sufficient if you're not gaming, with a decent 500GB HDD, decent motherboard, good PSU, 4GB of RAM, etc. Add a nice SSD to that and you should be set - how does that sound?
Going the AMD route doesn't save you a whole lot of money for the lesser performance ($15), I really like and recommend the Intel i3 CPUs at the minute, they're great performance for the money.Calum - Thanks for the suggestions! Is the i3 better (faster) than the Phenom I REFERENCED? What MB did you use in your i3 build? Memory? What PSU do you like?

If you did an AMD build, what MB would you use?Ack, I managed to not copy/paste my links, apologies about that! I must also apologise as I did a price comparison vs. a Phenom II X4 based build, not the X2 555 which yuou referenced, so the price difference is slightly in AMD's favour.
An i3 vs a Phenom II, the i3 is dual CORE with hyper threading but is faster clock for clock. Comparing, say, an unlocked Phenom II 555 (which would be equivalent to what, a 965?) to an i3 530, the i3 will handily beat the Phenom in single threaded apps, will be outdone in heavily multithreaded tasks, and will use much less power. If you're looking at unlocking cores, are you also looking into overclocking? An i3 will almost always reach 4GHz with ease and a slightly uprated cooler than stock, and almost all can also be easily pushed further. If the Phenom doesn't unlock though, you are stuck with 2 cores, which will be easily bested by the i3 in every task.
Newegg list:
Corsair CX400W PSU, $49.99 with $20 rebate, free shipping - fantastic quality 400W PSU, will handle this build with ease even if you later add a midrange card such as the 5770.
Intel Core i3 530 CPU (Retail) - $114.99, free shipping - if you plan to overclock, GRAB a cooler and buy the OEM version instead to save a little cash.
Gigabyte H55M-UD2H motherboard - $96.99 with $10 rebate, $0.99 shipping - great Intel board, decent layout, nice mix of EXPANSION slots.
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB 1333MHz RAM - $96.99, free shipping - great kit of RAM, G.Skill has a reputation for reliability and customer service.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB HDD - $54.99, free shipping - nice 500GB HDD, not sure how much space you need but grab the 1TB version if you need more. Nice and fast, reliable, also very quiet, I owned this drive for a good while.

For an AMD build I would grab this board - it's got fantastic reviews all over the net, a great set of features and good onboard graphics, etc. Or, you could grab a newer 880G based board for the newer chipset with native SATA3 and USB3 support, but I've yet to see an 880 based board I really like= so I'm not sure what to recommend.Calum - Thanks for the additional comments. Your in-depth, thoughtful, knowledgeable comments are a credit to you and to CH.

Thanks for the extra effort!You're more than welcome, thankyou for the kind words.
Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!