noob upgrade question on CPU and RAM

[viralDNA]

Hi this is my first build and I’m a bit new to PC hardware. I’m planning several upgrades down the line. They are:

2GB of RAM
Athlon 64 4000+
X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS
SATA

Here’s my current set up:

Athlon 64 3000+ w/ ThermalTake Venus 12 HS and Arctic Silver 5
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
xfx 7800 GTX Factory Overclocked
Antec TruePower 2.0 550 watts
2 NEC 16x DVD drives
Corsair XMS 2 x 512 DDR SDRAM unbuffered DDR 400 Dual Channel Kit
Soundblaster Audigy Z2 Gamer Limited
Logitech Z-5500
ThermalTake Armor Chassis
Zonet 2500 USB 802.11b/g w/ Raitek drivers
WinXP Pro SP2
80 GB WD Caviar drive

All the listed upgrades I plan to do eventually and haven’t decided what order. I thinking of doing either the cpu upgrade or RAM upgrade first. I mainly do FF online and BF2, then Q4 when it comes out. Does anyone know between the two is my biggest bottle neck? I’ve heard that the cpu can limit the 7800 but I’ve also heard BF2 gets a good boost from 1 GB of RAM to 2GB. So I’m not sure which I should do first.

Also is it better to run something like 4 x 512 sticks of RAM or 2 x 1GB sticks? I’m not well versed at all when it comes to RAM. I’m starting to understand timing but as far as memory dividers and CAS etc. I’m lost. Obviously if I end up going with 4 sticks, I will buy another set of the Corsair XMS that I bought before. But I’m considering 2 x 1GB sticks of either Corsair or OCZ.

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145575

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145587

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820227210

As I mentioned above, I’m somewhat unversed in terms of memory so I’m unsure which would be the best. I would greatly appreciate help with what would be the best set up in terms of memory for my system as well as with suggestions in general.

Also do anyone by chance know a way to montior overall watt usage? I bought the Kill-A-Watt:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7657/

but it reported something like 200 watts when I was playing BF2. Again, thanks in advance!

 

[Crashman]

Yes, 200W does sound awefully low, I'd expect that system to draw at least 230W while playing games. Would you happen to be using a Venice core A64? Because Venice cores draw very little power.

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[viralDNA]

Venice. What other differences are there between the cores? As I mentioned above, I'm planning on a Athlon 64 4000+. Is there a specific core that you recommend?

 

[Crashman]

Although it seems unlikely you're only drawing 200W while gaming, the efficiency of your core lends some credibility to that. Venice cores are the most efficient, but I don't think there's a 4000+ with that core.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[endyen]

The new 4000+ is a San Diego core. The difference between venice and San Diego is in the cache size. The SD chips use only slightly more juice.

 

[Crashman]

Ah, so it is.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>