How does this ~$1600 system look?

[robberbaron]

Antec "SLK3700AMB" Case with 350W PSU = $65

Rosewill CD-RW/DVD Combo = $33

1 cc tube of Arctic silver 5 = $7.60

Zalman Heatsink/Fan for CPU = $41

NV Silencer 5 = $31

36 gig Raptor = $112

Samsung 160GB IDE HDD = $89

3x 1GB PDP Systems DDR400 = $492

Viewsonic 19" CRT = $249

AOpen K8T800 = $84

Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle = $163

Prolink 6800 128MB = $295

This is pretty much the highest my budget will go. One thing I'm concerned about is whether or not 3 gigs of ram is overkill or not. I'd save $162 if I went with 2 gigs, so if the performance difference isn't really worth that $162, then I'll likely just cut out a stick. Or, if that memory is crap, then I'll look into another brand and ultimately a smaller amount of ram.

 

[SocceRich20]

Go with just 1GB, and get a 6800GT and a 3500+ CPU.

 

[robberbaron]

Go with just 1GB, and get a 6800GT and a 3500+ CPU.

It's a socket 754 motherboard. What S939 motherboard would you reccomend?

 

[so_cal_forever]

If you can afford an NF3 board, you really should make that investment. No locking buses on the K8T800 unless it's a Pro chipset.

 

[robberbaron]

If you can afford an NF3 board, you really should make that investment. No locking buses on the K8T800 unless it's a Pro chipset.

Can that board support high density ram? I won't rule it out if it doesn't, just curious.

 

[robberbaron]

Alright, I turned it into an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and a 3500+, reduced the ram to a 1GB stick, and bumped the vga to a 6800GT. The price only increased by about $20 for this. That 3 gigs of ram really would have been a waste..
Plus, this motherboard has 4 slots. I could just go with 2 sticks of 512MB and I'd have room for upgrade later.

 

[so_cal_forever]

Sounds much better. 1 gig is really all you need anyways.