Building new PC, first time build,

[stevefromLa]

Any changes that you would make to my componets? Thanks in advance


Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply

ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI

eVGA 256-P2-N386-AX Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PT - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s ST3160812AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

SONY Combo Drive Black IDE Model CRX320EE/B2S W/O SW - OEM

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

[hockey man]

Welcome to the PcGuide. First off, you don't need the XMS stuff unless you are a hardware guru and will be o'clocking. The cheaper modules that I would usually recommend are only $10 more after the rebate. So that is your choice. The specs are slightly nicer on the XMS stuff. But you won''t notice a difference. With that PSU, the Smartpower PSUs are a little below the Truepower ones at the same ratings. Those components aren't the most demanding though, so you probably will be fine with that PSU. Also, I see that you have a 6800GS card. That is a great budget gamers card. However, if you are going budget, I would suggest dropping down to a nForce Ultra MOBO. Something like this ABIT KN8 Ultra (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127222) for $90. There is no purpose in buying an SLI MOBO unless you will have the money in the next 6 months to go SLI. And if you did, I would recommend one 7800GT over two 6800GS any day. What is your budget for this build?

[stevefromLa]

Thanks for the reply hockey. My budget is somewhere around $1000-1100. I was trying to decide if SLI was really worth it, most reviews only show a small improvement. I might OC down the road if I think I need to, so I was kinda leaving my options open with the XMS.

[hockey man]

At this point one great card is better than to average cards in SLI. SLI sometimes even hinders performance in some games! At this point I don't have the time to crunch all the number and make system suggestion. Like I said though, I would not Go SLI in your situaltion. Save the $$ towards some nice periphreals.

[jlreich]

I don't know if they still have it, but the XMS stuff has had a good MIR lately which brings it down to about the same price as value select after rebate. Heck if it was like that when I got my 2x1GB stick I would have gotten XMS. If the price is the same or close, why not get the good stuff. :p

[Deagle]

I have 1GB of Corsair XMS, I got it back when BH-5 chips were running low and they started to put Samsung's TCCD on XMS. Same stuff that they now use for higher price XL and pc4000+.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I'm not sure what IC Corsair puts on their ram now but you can go here (http://www.houseofhelp.com/v3/index.php) and ask Ram Guy, he's Corsair reps and knows pretty much everything there is to know about Corsair's memory products.
I 2nd hockeyman's suggestion for a 7800GT but only if you can get it for under $250. Otherwise go for the 7900GT: fast, power efficient and great price.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif