Home build "semi" budget gaming system

[EvoPro]

Looking to upgrade from my current system that yeilds me only about 20 fps on HL2

Any comments, suggestions, or ways to optimizer performance/save money would be apprecaited.

Abit KN8 sli nForce 4
AMD athlon 64 4000+ San Diego
XFX GeForce 7900 GTX (is this overkill??)
Corsair XMS 2 GB PC 3200 DDR
160 GB 7200 RPM 3.0 Gb/s SATA
560W Silverstone ATX12V/EPS12V
Lian Li PC-60B Mid Tower Case

I would, of course, OC most things possible

Is extra cooling necessary?

I have old copies of XP pro and office and that setup looks like around $1500 total.

Can I expect decent to good performance in the most current titles?

 

[PCKid777]

Check out the DFI boards if you overclock, since they are proven to be the best overclockers. Corsair RAM is good, but compare prices and performance to OCZ as well. See if you can get a dual core system. And check out AM2, since socket 939 will be obsolete soon and AM2 will provide you a longer upgrade path.

But, you may want to consider an Intel Conroe compatible motherboard, as they may provide more performance in the future.

The graphics card is fine; however, if you will NOT use Sli, then consider the ATi 1900XTX, as it is faster than a single 7900GTX.

For more performance, you can consider RAID by getting two smaller HDDs and placing them in striping mode (a few dollars more than one HDD)

From your current setup, you can expect really nice performance. Also, you WILL NEED extra cooling if you plan to overclock, as OCing WILL use more electricity, and thus produce more heat. I suggest Zalman, Thermaltake, Scythe, and Thermalright.

 

[wun911]

I like what i see just build it already