budget gaming upgrade

[zach0624]

I am upgrading my brother's gaming/multimedia rig for him. this will be a pretty extensive overhaul because he is still running an athlon xp. i will probably keep the optical drives and maybe the case although i might get something like an antec 900 (which i have and love) this will be overclocked

please comment on these specs:

e6420= ~186
evga 680i NF63-TR (ddr 800 standard upto 1200)= 154
evga 7900 gs= 105
mushkin eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) =124
or
WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800=81
Chiefmax 680w power supply= 30
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM =100
antec 900= ~125
total=824 or 781

i am undecided on the cpu heatsink
any comments appreciated may go sli later thanks

 

[Sinn707]

In my opinion you should go with the newest P35 chipset, get 8800 GTS and a wait for July 22 when E6750 comes out and get it instead of 6420. Here's the system i came up with for the same money.



COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 $45
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R $130
E6750 $186
XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W $50
Patriot 2GB RAM DDR800 4-4-4-12 $85 (ar)
EVGA 8800 GTS $260
Seagate 320GB $80

That's $836.

In terms of cooling i recommend getting a Tuniq 102 ($60) or Freezer 7 Pro ($19.50, not on newegg) combined with $6 Artic Silver 5 paste.

Good luck.

 

[zach0624]

thanks for the response. the e6x50 series looks great. I may end up going that way unless the e6420 drops alot in price. also on a small 17 inch lcd monitor is it worth getting a 8800 gts?