Fast budget system

[Muskiet]

I'm currently in a state of confusion.
I've got about $500 to spend and I think I can build an okay system with it.
Now what I'm confused about is what system to buy and build?
For instance I can buy a Gigabyte S939 NForce 430 GA-K8N51GMF Mobo with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ for $250 which leaves me room for a 128MB NVIDIA 6600 GT and an S-ATA HD (maybe two on RAID), or for instance an MSI 915P Neo-F Mobo with an Intel Pentium 4 630 3.0Ghz for $270.

I do want to look into the future, so AMD's 64Bit looks like the right choice, but is it really?
Also I want to look at the now and the now tells me my Sempron 2600+ with FX5200 on 512MB of RAM won't run Battlefield 2 (actually it does, but try aiming at somebody when the crosshairs jump all over the place because of the lag in my system).

Ideally I'd like a 64Bit system with 1GB DDR2 memory (is that supported yet on an AMD system, and within my price range?) two S-ATA2 HD's on a RAID (striped) with a PCI-E video card that will run the newest software for a while without too much performance loss.

I know... I know... I want a lot for $500, but this is where I need help. What is a good thing to have and what should I sacrifice with my budget?
I can always buy a second HD so for now I can do with one but a new mobo should support at least S-ATA RAID.
Also I have a choice between the Geforce 6600 GT 128MB and ATI's X800 256MB (for a 17" screen)... WHICH ONE? (losing my mind).
DDR or DDR2?

Please help.
8O

 

[fishmahn]

Since you said you want a gamer, sacrifice the 2 hd's and get the system that's $20 cheaper (and it will perform better in games). DDR2 isn't available yet on AMD and AMD doesn't seem to need it since it is plenty fast with regular DDR. See if you can find an Athlon 64 3000+ for socket 939, that should cost you less so you can possibly get a 6800GS or similar. At this budget level, once you have the basics (3ghz-ish CPU and 1GB RAM) you put everything into the graphics card.

Definitely the minimum video card you should get is the 6600GT, every few $ will get you progressively more. If you have money left after you've gone up to a 6800GS you can upgrade something else.

Add the 2nd HDD later and do whatever other upgrades you may need.

Mike.

 

[bobbydamm]

You should be checking the web for 'barebones' systems-
basically giving you what you need to start,
Case, Motherboard, CPU, Ram, PSU,....are usually included essentials that will get you started and at a lower cost than buying the parts completely separate.
Granted you may not get the Exact parts that you listed, you can usually find something very comparable at a decent price.
Check www.tigerdirect.com for their listings of barebones systems-
(they May put together exactly what you need-talk to them)
I do buy things from them and they have a good selection of parts new and old.
Check out the 'Mach Speed Barebone'-$399 after rebate.