Questions about a system I'm planning on buying

[Tudi]

Hi guys,

It's my first time on Tom's Hardware forums, so please bare with me if I say anything silly

Basically, I'm planning to buy a new PC and I have a few questions about it. I will be using this system mostly for gaming and article writing (MS Word) and some design (Adobe Flash/PS and Dreamweaver). The investment is mainly for games though. So here's the system I was planning to buy:

Motherboard: Asus M2-CROSSHAIR, nForce 590 SLI, S-AM2
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Socket AM2 2x1024K
RAM: DIMM 2Gb DDR2 PC-6400 800MHz GeIL DDR2 CL5 (5-5-5-15) ( Kit 2 x 1GB ) Radiator
Video Card: Asus EN8800GTS/HTDP/320M GF 8800GTS 320Mb DDR3 PCI Express (320bit)
HDD: SEAGATE 250 GB 7200rpm 16Mb Serial-ATA II Baracuda, NCQ&Perpendicular Recording
DVD/RW: Asus DRW-1814BLT Lightscribe - 8X18X8X16X - 48X32X48X Serial-ATA
Monitor: LG L226WTQ-SF 22 TFT 83KHz 1680x1050/75Hz c/s 3000/300cd 170/170 (H/V) 2ms Flatron, F-engine, DVI, TCO03, Vista Design

Now, here are the questions:

1. I might be planning on buying a second VC in the future to use in the SLI spot of the motherboard. Does this have to be the same model as the first one (Asus 8800 GTS)?
2. What kind of power source should the case contain to support all the above hardware, plus an additional HDD and another 8800 in case I go for SLI in a few months' time?
3. Is 450w too low? And what other specs should I look for in the power source?
4. Can I connect a S-ata HDD and an IDE one at the same time?
5. Is the performance difference between the Athlon 64 X2 6000 2x1024K (3000 mhz) and the Athlon 64 X2 5200 2x1024K (2600 mhz) worth the 40 Eu price difference?
6. Is GeiL a good choice for RAM? If not, what's my best bet? (I've had nasty trouble with bad RAM on almost all my PCs )

That's about it. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance if you reply and help me out
Best
Tudi

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

Get a 8800 GTX instead
1. No, they have to have the same core
2. 750W Cooling Silencer or Thermaltake toughpower would do the job
3. Yes, should look for amps through the 12v rail
4. Never tried it probably will work.
5. If you know how to overclock you can just get the 2.6 ghz one to 3ghz easily but probably it's worth 40 eur worth of performance.
6. No, in fact i never heard of it, Super talent, Crosair, OCZ, Crucial Ballistix would all be good brands.
Hope this helps

 

[Onus]

Drives used in a RAID should be as identical as possible, but if you're not running a RAID then IDE & SATA drives should be fine together.

 

[Tudi]

I'm afraid I'm slightly over the budget as is, so I don't see an 8800GTx in the picture yet

What I meant about the power source question was. What is the least powerful source that I can run this system on without risk?

But thanks, both your answers do help