Advice on new system...

[Snydeman5]

Howdy all! I'm upgrading my system soon and am looking at the following things to put in it. I've done some checking on these boards and elsewhere to make sure nothing's majorly wrong with the components, but I thought I'd ask for any general advice from the knowledgable crowd here...

Ok, Mammaboard: ABIT AT8 32X Socket 939 ATI CrossFire Radeon XPRESS 3200 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

VidCard: connect3D 3056 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM (I am NOT putting two cards on for now...it's just nice to know that in 2 years I could)

Da Brain: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail

PSU: Still researching the power requirements, but it looks like I'll be ok with 550w...looking at some of the brands recommended here (Enermax, enhance, seasonic, fortron, sparkle, oc

My question is simple...am I missing anything with regards to these four components that I should know about? I can get all 4 for about $800 at Newegg, which seemed cheapest I could find with any sort of reputable online dealer. (Tigerdirect was more $$)

Thanks!

-S

PS- Of course, I could just bypass this "upgrade every 3 years" madness and get a Xbox 360 or PS3... sometimes I want to....!!! =P

 

[acegazda]

The asus a8r-mvp is a better board if you must go with s939. I don't know of any x16 am2 xfire boards available right now. The psu for you would probably be either an OCZ gamexstream 600w or enhance 0560g. The vidcard is good too. Good luck and welcome to the forums.

 

[Snydeman5]

Hmm, I don't think that mobo can take the X2 processor I'm looking to get? And I don't HAVE to go with s939, but I do want to stick with AMD - not a fanboy, but I've never had a problem with AMD and see no reason to switch.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Snydeman5
Hmm, I don't think that mobo can take the X2 processor I'm looking to get?

As long as the socket is the same, it will work.

 

[acegazda]

Originally posted by: Snydeman5
Hmm, I don't think that mobo can take the X2 processor I'm looking to get? And I don't HAVE to go with s939, but I do want to stick with AMD - not a fanboy, but I've never had a problem with AMD and see no reason to switch.

Reason 1
Reason 2

 

[Snydeman5]

Gotcha. I KNEW that, but sometimes it's the small things that are so easy to check and yet so hard to remember. =P

I've had a few issues with Asus boards before...not saying they are a bad company, but never had issues with MSI or Abit, so I kinda steer in their direction. Not adverse to trying an Asus though, if that's the overwhelming choice of peeps here.

EDIT: Ace, that's a compelling reason, so what's a good mobo for the Intel at about the same performance as the ATI one I'm looking at?

 

[cupajava]

Since you're upgrading the majority of parts, I would go socket AM2 and wait for an AM2 crossfire mobo to be released. At least then your cpu will be compatible upgrading to a new mobo for another few years. If you still want to go the socket 939 route, then the Abit AT8 32X is great. I have an AT8 running right now and love it. The Asus A8R-MVP is riddled with problems and not even comparable given its based on the RD480 chipset and not the RD580 like the Abit 32X.

 

[acegazda]

Originally posted by: Snydeman5
Gotcha. I KNEW that, but sometimes it's the small things that are so easy to check and yet so hard to remember. =P

I've had a few issues with Asus boards before...not saying they are a bad company, but never had issues with MSI or Abit, so I kinda steer in their direction. Not adverse to trying an Asus though, if that's the overwhelming choice of peeps here.

EDIT: Ace, that's a compelling reason, so what's a good mobo for the Intel at about the same performance as the ATI one I'm looking at?

none exist ATM, however an r580 chipset is planned for september i believe? The gigabyte ds3 is a single pci-e x16 board, but can oc to 500fsb. The intel "badaxe" might support xfire...

 

[Snydeman5]

Ah, I should have mentioned...I'd like to keep my old DDR if possible. Have two sticks of DDR400 (2gigs). I KNOW DDR2 is the wave, but I gotta try and keep this all under 800, or as close as possible.

 

[Snydeman5]

Anyone else?