Help in buying a new system

[figrin]

I am currently at the thinking stage of upgrading (probably start buying at mid-year)

I just need some help before buying.

I am dreaming of a smp system (when it comes out) using the via-133a chipset with dual coppermine cpu and using matrox G400 (old when the time I'll buy it, but I need it for it's picture quality and ability to upgrade through the RR module). All this with windows 2000 as well. Now how much problems will I encountering with this setup. I know this will probably be the worst bunch of gear put together (via, SMP, matrox RR and w2k) but will it work? Anyone got something similar (BP6, VIA, w2k, RR). Will Matrox release drivers for RR for w2k soon?

[Alfie]

Won't know 'til you try!
Then you can post the problems!

[HedsSpaz]

One thing you might want to consider as an alternative is that by mid year the AMD 760 chipset will be out. This chipset will support PC266 DDR SDRAM, AGP 4x, up to 2gb RAM, UDMA 66(possibly 100), and most importantly, SMP.
Or if you don't like AMD then there is no telling what Intel might have available by mid year. They tend to not be as forthcoming about their chipsets as they are about their CPU's.
On the note of the Matrox card you may or may not have noticed the latest rumors that Matrox is supposedly going to officially anounce the "G800" later this month. Depending on how much you are willing to spend and what addon cards Matrox anounces that will support this card you might want to go that way.
As far as software compatability problems go, there are currently lots of problems reported from every front on problems with SMP. Up until now it hasn't been a widely used feature outside of highend servers and workstations and as such there hasn't been to much demand to make it work well with general use software. So the answer there really depends on what you are planning on using the computer for.

my .02$ plus or minus some.
Ian