410 budget high end?

[Kohlhagen]

System build for a friend in a week.

DFI ICFX3200-T2R/G LGA 775 ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200
Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core
Patriot Extreme Performance 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 CL 4
Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply
SAPPHIRE 100199L Radeon X1950GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
(old HD/CD-D)


any thoughts? I wish i had more info on the ageing ICFX3200.. It seems like a good OC as long as i put some AS5 on combo heatsink that comes with it off newegg.com

 

[doghills]

Are you planning on CF in the future? If so it isn't really worth it with that video card.

Go for 2gb of RAM. It costs around $20 more and is more than worth it.

I don't know if it fits in the budget but you might try looking at the hd2900gt.

What resolution is this rig going to be gaming at?

 

[fueled_by_ramen]

I would also like to confirm Dog's recommendations. 2GB of RAM is pretty much a must now, especially if you run Vista, but even in XP, it's tons better. You can get a good set of DDR2-800 1GBx2 for about $50 now from NewEgg.

The video card, I would either get the 2900 as Dog said or even better I think would be a 3850 (much less power hungry for about the same performance). They run about $150-160 so if you can squeeze a little more from your budget, I think you'd be much happier.

Good choice on the case!

 

[mlaporta]

If your on a budget I think your fine with one of these cards:

XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

 

[mlaporta]

Only $40 for 2gb of RAM (after mail-in rebate from newegg):

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804

 

[mlaporta]

I think your much better off with this psu (which is extremely important):

Antec earthwatts EA430 ATX12V v2.0 430W Power Supply

 

[mlaporta]

See if you can swing this mobo a MUCH better choice:

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard

Add it all up and see where your at on price???

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed. The P35-DS3x boards are great over clockers. See:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=29&post=245679&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=3&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0
for OCing on the P35-DS3L.

 

[Kohlhagen]

I am very Iffy on this CFX3200, But its going to have a crossfire feel to it.. 2GB Crossfire OCZ ram, the 1950 is cheap and he is only running COD4 and CS:S at resolutions no higher 1280*1024, my X850XT ran those games fine at 1680*1050 so i think this should be nice enough for now.. Its budget but i think this kid is going to throw me more money for an upgrade later on.. I think OCing should be fun..

 

[chuckm]

Get this PSU, good deal and will handle just about any system upgrades you do in the future, the Thermaltake won't.
http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX-550W-Power-Supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html
I have to agree with Gigabyte motherboard suggestion considering it's only $10 more than the DFI. Yes, the DFI has the crossfire, but that's about it. The P35 chipset is vastly superior.