Buy question:Faster CPU vs. Faster Memory

Ok I'm buying a new system and I have sort of a semi-flexible budget in mind. So far I'm thinking I'll get:

motherboard - MSI K8N Neo Platinum
CPU - Athlon 64 3200+ 1MB L2 (clawhammer)
power- Enermax noisetaker 420W
video- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
memory - Corsair XMS Low Latency DDR PC-3200 (512MBx2)

I have optical drives and a good hdd already...

My question is, should I buy that expensive RAM or would I be better served by getting cheaper RAM but a faster CPU like a 3400+? I don't really want to dish out the cash for both. I've heard the low latency ram works well with the amd chips, but I don't know if it increases system speed more than the difference between a 3200+ and a 3400+.

I should say that I plan to use my system for some of everything. Some graphics, some business apps etc etc, and of course games. Also,if it matters, I don't know a lot about overclocking, but as I learn more I may decide to overclock although I don't know. Thanks to anyone that may have advice.

Oh yeah, is that power supply acceptable for that system (brand/power etc)? And I heard that card produces a lot of heat....will I need to compensate somehow for that?

Don't buy the ATI 9800, it's an old generation video card.

Buying either ATI X800 Pro or Nvidia 6800 will make A LOT MORE DIFFERENCE than memory quality.

<A HREF="http://www.clan-chaos.com" target="_new">clan CHAOS</A>

Thanks for the responses. The thing about the video card... the difference between a 9800 Pro and a X800 Pro/6800 ultra is like $250-$370. That's some serious cash for a video card... The 9800 Pro doesn't really seem old generation to me, but I may be wrong.

As far as upgrades and DDR2, if DDR2 is the standard when I need to upgrade again, I'll have to buy a new motherboard anyway in order to use it and probably a new processor to fit on that new motherboard. So if that ever happens I'd basically just be buying a new system....which sorta has nothing to do with this system

Really what I'm trying to say is that I have $130 more in my budget to spend on my system. I can either spend it to get the low latency ram or I can spend it to get a slightly faster CPU. I just don't know which option would give me the most benefit if I'm trying to maximize my system speed within my budget. It's hard for me to justify spending 500-600 dollars on a vid card that probably wont be that much more useful than a 9800 Pro.

9800 Pro is more than sufficient for every game out there today... and will continue to be a decent card for probably another year at least.

I love Samsung, volt modded my K8N Neo platinum, pumping 3.05Vdimm through them, they're doing 253mhz! LOL generic PC3200 ram doing PC4000's speed.

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