How does this semi-budget system look?

[jlarson69]

-ASUS M3A AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
-EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI
-Rosewill RP550V2-S-SL 550W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply - Retail
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition Processor
-OCZ Platinum 4GB(4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model
- ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail

I wanted to go with an AM2+ motherboard to futureproof it, and the Asus M3A is only $100 on newegg. Is the DDR2 800 memory fine or would it be worth it to go to DDR2 1066 since the motherboard supports it?
How does this system look in general?

 

[Mintcondition]

I have not researched AMD systems in quite some time, but I would consider another PSU. Check out this list for the brands you should be considering (note that Rosewill is Tier 5):

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

 

[chuckm]

Good Deal on a Good Power Supply

http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX-550W-Power-Supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html

 

[spentshells]

jeeze wish I had your semi budget

 

[hairycat101]

OS? 4 gig wont do anything special on a 32 bit os...

 

[nhobo]

OS? 4 gig wont do anything special on a 32 bit os...

unless you multitask, open multiple large files (Photoshop), etc.

 

[hairycat101]

I mean the ~ 3 gig limit on 32 bit OS's because of the lack of ability to allocate memory past the ~ 3 gig worth.

 

[nhobo]

In modern operating systems, including Windows, application programs and many system processes always reference memory using virtual memory addresses which are automatically translated to real (RAM) addresses by the hardware. Only core parts of the operating system kernel bypass this address translation and use real memory addresses directly.

Virtual Memory is always in use, even when the memory required by all running processes does not exceed the amount of RAM installed on the system.

All processes (e.g. application executables) running under 32 bit Windows gets virtual memory addresses (a Virtual Address Space) going from 0 to 4,294,967,295 (2*32-1 = 4 GB), no matter how much RAM is actually installed on the computer.

In the default Windows OS configuration, 2 GB of this virtual address space are designated for each process’ private use and the other 2 GB are shared between all processes and the operating system. Normally, applications (e.g. Notepad, Word, Excel, Acrobat Reader) use only a small fraction of the 2GB of private address space. The operating system only assigns RAM page frames to virtual memory pages that are in use.

 

[jlarson69]

Well, I'm currently using XP and see no reason to drop several hundred dollars on Vista until it's more stable. I figure I might as well just buy the 4 gigs of RAM as a package deal which is around $130 on newegg for the DDR800, but 2 gigs of DDR 1066 is around the same price.

 

[HamRadio]

A quality PSU will bring you peace of mind. We've all read horror stories of bizzare problems that caused folks to pull out all their hair for a month that turned out to be a flaky power supply. So I vote for something tier1/2/3 such as a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 610.

On the other hand, if your budget is very very tight, here is a FREE (yes FREE!) PSU from newegg.com (rebate says you must purchase it before 12/31/07):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193013

 

[nhobo]

Futuring-proofing is an oxymoron, even more so with AMD. Get a P35 and C2D. 2GB ram is good, and the minimum for a snappy system, but 4GB is better if you do a lot of things at once. A free PSU? - no thank you. If it sounds to good to be true it probably is. No-name brand, not cheap, dependent on a rebate?

 

[tekbro]

Thanks, I reposted this in another forum...I apologize for the dual post...

 

[nightscope]

Sorry for double post...

 

[nightscope]

Looks good... Why are you getting a spider platform if you're not going to take advantage of it's positives? Like crossfire? Try to either get one that has two or more pci-express slots, or just get another chipset.

 

[jlarson69]

The Asus M3A is the only AM2+ board made by a reputable company that doesn't cost $200+.