need some opinions

[BlackCloud]

Ok well I put together a wish list over at newegg and I need a second (and third, fourth and so on) opinion on this system that I'm planning to get. My budget is pretty much $2000 but nothing more than $2400ish (that's as far as I can stretch it). Now I'm willing to overclock it if it saves me money, and put it together accordingly. I also pretty much want to try and get the best for the most part.

This is what I have so far:

Motherboard: ASUS A8N-E
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131530

Processor: AMD Opteron 165
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103588

Memory: 1GB Dual Channel OCZ
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820146896

Power Supply: Antec TruePower 2.0 550W
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817103932

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon X1900XT
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102003

Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB (in RAID 0)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822144701

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16829102188

Monitor: 19" ViewSonic VA902b
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824116363

Speakers: Logitech Z-5500
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16836121120

Now I know there's some overly expensive things in there (like the Z-5500) but trust me, it's practically a necessity . Any opinions and suggestions available. And I already have fans lined up and the case and drives are all purchased.

 

[sandmannight]

get 2gb of G.Skill extream ram for 164 bucks. It will help get that opty up to FX-60 speeds

 

[DDay629]

Why spend that much on RAM when you can get just as good or almost as good for 130? Check this link out: XMS RAM

How I love $50 rebates.

DDay

 

[cisco]

I would recommend the 2gig version of the OCZ. It has a mail in rebate that makes only about 50.00 more than the 1gig pair.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210

or another good overclocking ram

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227219

 

[4745454b]

Here comes the opinion, but your not going to like it...

First, you're probably better off dumping the AID0 idea. Unless you spend a lot of time (as in at least a minute) watching your harddrive light on, AID0 isn't going to help you and could actually slow you down. Most people don't use programs that access the harddrive enough to make AID0 worthwhile, so I wouldn't spend the $$$ on it. I also think putting your OS on an AID0 setup is not a good idea, as any time you get a currupted AID driver, you'll have to reload windows. (not fun ever since MS started doing that activation thing.)

Second, the z5300 is quite loud, are you sure you need the z5500? The 5300s are some of the loudest speakers I've heard. (You've got to love the bass that sub can kick out, makes me weak in the knees...) Unless this is going into a large room, your probably ok going with the 5300.

Monitor looks good, but something bothers me about it, not sure what. I think its the 270 cd/m2, which for some reason seems to me to be a little dark. Check this bad boy out. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014111
This is still a 19" LCD, but has a lower response time (2ns!), 300 cd/m2, a better contrast ratio, and is only about $20 more. Maybe thats whats bugging me about your monitor...

 

[shadowduck]

Here comes the opinion, but your not going to like it...

First, you're probably better off dumping the AID0 idea. Unless you spend a lot of time (as in at least a minute) watching your harddrive light on, AID0 isn't going to help you and could actually slow you down. Most people don't use programs that access the harddrive enough to make AID0 worthwhile, so I wouldn't spend the $$$ on it. I also think putting your OS on an AID0 setup is not a good idea, as any time you get a currupted AID driver, you'll have to reload windows. (not fun ever since MS started doing that activation thing.)

Actually, its worse than that. If one drive fails the entire RAID array is destoryed. All data on BOTH drives. Unless you do large drive writes on a regular basis, RAID will NOT help you. The only thing it does is increase your points of failure from 1 to 2. If you must have a Raptor (which really are not even that great to start with), get one and then a 200GB-300GB hard drive for all your stuff other than OS/Apps.

 

[sandmannight]

companies can screw you on the rebate and is that ram DDR500?

 

[4745454b]

"RAID will NOT help you."
You know that, and I know that, but many people are being bitten by the AID bug. They seem to think that because two are doing the work of one, it must be faster. Not every idea that works for servers should be implemented by desktop/personal machines. (and yes, I knew your little fact about drive failure, I simply forgot to include it.)

 

[rodney_ws]

I browsed over a couple of the components listed by the original poster and it appears most (if not all) of them can be found for a fair bit less $ at ZipZoomFly. I've ordered from NewEgg and Zip and have found both to be good buying experiences... if this guy is serious about maximizing his bang-for-buck ratio, he owes it to himself to look at more than just that one vendor... but hey, it's his money!

Full Disclosure: I have never had to return anything to ZipZoomFly so I have no clue how much of a hassle that would be... maybe that's why everyone loves NewEgg.

 

[bweir]

Get 2Gb of memory in the 2x 1Gb configuration. It'll help alleviate any potential bottlenecks when playing and Windows will benefit from it a bit more than 1Gb.

Plus it should only run ya' about $75 more if you know where to shop!