Which CPU to get?

Take a look at newegg and do a search. The FX is out of your price range. You can get a 2.2 GHz X2 for $150-200 or a regular Athlon 64 for about $120 or less.

what's the difference between a brisbane and windsor core?

Try googling brisbane vs windsor.

[edit] Sorry, Google wasn't very helpful.

I went to Newegg->AMD processors and did a search for Brisbane, then for Windsor, and compared. It looks like they're pretty much the same, but Brisbane is the 65W (low power) version and is slightly more expensive, and Windsor is available at higher speeds. It doesn't really matter, though, because they're both only for Socket AM2.

If you're looking for a Socket 939 chip, put that in the search options so you don't get other chips.

Try a Newegg search with restrictions to your price range, the X2 family, and Socket 939. You should only get chips with the Manchester core. There are newer X2's with the Toledo core and twice as much L2 cache, but they cost more than $200.

[Edited by - nagromo on September 21, 2006 12:29:52 AM]

I just saw that they were both the other socket type recently. I think I'm gonna get a 4400 toledo.