buying a new gaming PC next week - suggestions appreciated

[Artemisia]

Hello all! I've been lurking around the forums here for the last few months, and I was hoping I could get some opinions on a new gaming system I'm getting ready to purchase. I do not plan on overclocking. I'm still deciding on a case too. Let me know what you think:

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply - Retail

I also have 2 hard drives here in my present PC that I plan to move over to this system, and possibly add a third HD later on. Will 430W be sufficient for everything or should I get more power?

Motherboard: ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail

I'm trying to decide between this for $219 or a 3200+ Venice for $152 that operates at 2.0Ghz instead of 2.2Ghz. Is the 200mhz that big of a deal? Will I have a performance hit in games?

Memory: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3200 - Retail

Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100134L Radeon X1800XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

I've used Nvidia cards in my last 2 PCs, but I've heard a lot of great things about this card, so I figured I'd "jump ship" and try one.

Optical Drive: NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model ND-3550A - Retail

Please let me know what you guys think; any suggestions or comments are much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[o1die]

For the power supply, I'd go with the fortron fsp 400w 12cm ($39.99 at newegg) or one of the antec 450-550 models, depending on what's left in your budget, especially if you want to try overclocking. I've never had a problem with fortron or antec ps. I use a 3200 venice cpu, and it will run at 2500 with standard corsair value memory. As you noticed, it's about $70 cheaper than the San Diego, but has a smaller 512 cache. I tried a cheap 350w ultra power supply today, and the antec 350 was more stable and much quieter, as well as being almost twice the weight. Never skimp on the ps. Although the ultra was free after rebate, I'm taking this noisy thing back to Fry's next week.