Putting together an AM2 system (X2 3800+)

[Lanton]

At the moment, this is what I see the comp looking like:

AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800+ SOCKET AM2
Foxconn C51XEM2AA
Corsair TWIN2X1024-5400C4
WD740ADFD Raptor 74GB
Antec SOLO ATX MiniTower

With that said, i'd appreciate any advice/suggestions, regarding the above choice of components.

 

[The_Prophecy]

DO NOT get an SLI board if you're not going to SLI. I am assuming you're not going to because you picked a 7600GT. The 7900GT and GTX cards are the only one's worth putting in an SLI config.

Swap the CPU for this AMD Athlon X2 4000+. This model has double the cache. Forget about the clock speed, since CPU's can be overclocked almost effortlessly now.

Swap the motherboard for the Asus M2N-E

Also swap the video card for the eVGA Geforce 7600GT. In my experience, Gainward is a really crappy brand. The fans on all of the Gainward cards I have owned, died within 3 months of purchase.

then swap the RAM for this set of Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800

and finally, swap the hard drive for the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2

 

[1Tanker]

DO NOT get an SLI board if you're not going to SLI. I am assuming you're not going to because you picked a 7600GT. The 7900GT and GTX cards are the only one's worth putting in an SLI config.

Swap the CPU for this AMD Athlon X2 4000+. This model has double the cache. Forget about the clock speed, since CPU's can be overclocked almost effortlessly now.

Swap the motherboard for the Asus M2N-E

Also swap the video card for the eVGA Geforce 7600GT. In my experience, Gainward is a really crappy brand. The fans on all of the Gainward cards I have owned, died within 3 months of purchase.

then swap the RAM for this set of Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800

and finally, swap the hard drive for the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2

Yes, if you do anything, take The_Prophecy's advice on the RAM.

 

[Lanton]

I'm in Australia and can't get access to cheap 4000+s - the shops here either don't have them in-stock, or the AMD price-cuts haven't taken affect yet on them.

As regards the ram, I can't find any Corsair 6400C4. I've only been able to find TWIN2X1024A-6400 stuff. I understand the latter ram has higher latencies, is that true?

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Thanks for the info on the Gainward cards. The eVGA 7600GTs are, however, pretty expensive here - I don't want to be spending more than around AUD$300 on the video card (the Gainward, for example, cost AUD$295). What about BFG, MSI, Innovision or XperVision?

 

[1Tanker]

I'm in Australia and can't get access to cheap 4000+s - the shops here either don't have them in-stock, or the AMD price-cuts haven't taken affect yet on them.

As regards the ram, I can't find any Corsair 6400C4. I've only been able to find TWIN2X1024A-6400 stuff. I understand the latter ram has higher latencies, is that true?

Yes that RAM is CAS5(5-5-5-15). Try to get CAS4, if you can.

 

[Lanton]

I'm in Australia and can't get access to cheap 4000+s - the shops here either don't have them in-stock, or the AMD price-cuts haven't taken affect yet on them.

As regards the ram, I can't find any Corsair 6400C4. I've only been able to find TWIN2X1024A-6400 stuff. I understand the latter ram has higher latencies, is that true?

Yes that RAM is CAS5(5-5-5-15). Try to get CAS4, if you can.
Well, couldn't find any 6400C4, so i'll end up getting a 1GB of 5400C4.