I am building a budget system and would like some input. I will be going to overclock the processor/video card and the ram if needed. I'm looking for a 3.2-3.4 Ghz overclock.

Specs:
Processor: E2180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] &Tpk=E2180
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128059
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) ddr2-800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146565
Video card: PNY 7900 GS
Power supply: Thermaltake Purepower 500 watt power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817153052
Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119068
Cd/dvd drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151153
Harddrive: 250 GB SATA II 16 MB 3.0 GB Western Digital harddrive (would it be better to get the seagate perpendicular platter technology drive? would it make much of a difference?)

Thanks

I don't really understand the videocard.
If you're going for budget, why not go for the HD 2600XT?

Because I got a good deal on the 7900gs, for around $80.

Here is a decent article on overclocking the other two E21xx chips. I would assume the tips would apply here as well. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/c [...] e2160.html

My only caution would be that the Gigabyte boards can be a bit ticky with Crucial Ballistix. They may have fixed it by now, but I know Corsair XMS works well.

Everything looks good to go

This card is rat sh it for gaming... the 7900GS will sh it all over it. Ive got one and it still runs most games well including Bioshock at 1366x768 on my 42" LCD .

I dont know how you got that deal but the 7900GT and the 1950 series is worth a look both a still excellent DX9 performers.
Good choices all up the only thing i would consider would be a cpu cooling option... something 120mm fan based will be quiet and get a good OC. Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme, make sure you get a fan for it though cause it dont come with one.

Um...how can I make sure that the Crucial ram will work with the motherboard? Don't really want to go that problem...

Just note the Voltage - It's 2.2v that causes some issues with some boards.

This memory works well and has the std 1.8v
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820211066

The timings are not as tight, but the C2D is very tolerant of timings so it will likely not impact performance.

Also, no need to worry about OC ability of the RAM, since you will be underclocking the RAM if you set it to 1:1.

Case: buy locally. Shipping always kills any savings. Shoot, many people have old PCs with perfectly good cases that they throw out.

Memory ^^^ what zenmaster said. The key to overclocking and stability in ram is wide voltage ranges. A little difference in speed isn't even more than a couple of FPS, if that(the bottleneck is sill the bus with modern memory) Geil also makes memory like this for a bit more money. (IIRC, newegg had some with a $30 rebate last I checked)

That leaves the video card. Get the 7900 GS used for $100 or less.

You can get the 7900GS new for $99 AR on new egg now.
Really nice budget card. Very power friendly too.

Well if I can get the crucial memory that's better and would work if I undervolt it to 2.1 why get the a-data? they're the same price and from what I've heard the crucial ballistix are extremely good ram. The case has free shipping

Uhm, I think the 2600XT actually outperforms the 7900GS in some games, like Oblivion and Bioshock.
They trade blows, right?
But yeah 80 dollar for a 7900GS sounds like a good price.

The Crucial are good RAM.
It's just if you are worried about potential ram compatibility issues, it's best to stick to RAM rated at 1.8v.

Some mobos will not boot with RAM that requires high voltage.

This issue is not as bad as it used to be as many manufacturers of RAM will actually have their RAM boot at lower speeds and force you to set it to the rated speeds manually in the BIOS.

Also, MB manufacturer's have started booting properly and applying the higher voltage as needed.

You just expressed concern about potentially having compatibility isssues.

The A-Data will have almost no chance of compatibility issues and in regards to performance you will not see a difference.

If you needed to push the RAM to very high speeds past DDR2-800, then yes there may be a difference. However, with your setup, your RAM will likely not even be running at full DDR2-800 speeds.

I stand corrected there are some titles that benefit from the 2600XT i believe this is due to GDDR4 on it. However, doing a total on Toms GPU charts we see the 7900GS way ahead
http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=318

Saw a lot of reviews and most said that the crucial ram worked in that same exact motherboard. Maybe they fixed it?