Advice on components for new gaming rig

[confusion]

I finally have the cash saved for my new gaming system. I've included the x1800XT rather than the 7800GTX as it seems like it's preformance may scale better than the NV in the future. I know this may be an premature evaluation given that the card is still a month away (in ATI time, likely 2 months in real world time. I'll remain optimistic though and hope for a 11/5 release

Please let me know what you folks think of my hardware choices below as well as where you weigh in on the 1800XT vs. 7800GTX decision.

ATI Radeon x1800XT
AMD Athlon64 3700+ (San Diego)
OCZ Value (1024*2)
Epox 9NPA
Creative XFI Music
Seagate SATA 120GB NCQ
Antec P180
Antec Neopower 480W

 

[dannyaa]

I'd just get the BFG 7800GT from newegg - $360 right now. GTX is probably overkill for the time being... see the graphics forum thread "7800GT vs GTX"

How about the 3500+ Venice core? The Venice core is better...

Get the seagate "7200.9" hard drive, it's the newest version... You may be able to get a bigger drive for not that much more $$ (check pricewatch)...

Good choice on case/RAM. I did notice newegg has a rebate right now on 2x1024 OCZ Platinum RAM for $230... not sure what you were paying for the value...


P4c 3.2Ghz NWood / ABIT AI7 / 1GB XMS-Pro DDR 3200 / BFG GF-6800GT 256mb / Antec 380W

A64 3000 Venice / Epox 9npa-U / 1GB HyperX DDR 3200 / XFX GF-6600GT 128mb / Antec 330W

 

[confusion]

What is it that makes the Venice core better than the San Diego? I understand that the 3200+ Venice is a OC beast, but I've heard the similar things about the 3700+ SD.

 

[endyen]

The new 3700 core is great. I dont think too much of the extra cache, unless you are OCing to the max, but the price difference just isn't worth it. It's not like the A64s have latency problems, or are bandwidth starved.