Building a somewhat High-End System, would appriciate some advice

[black3y3]

I am in the process of selecting parts for my new computer that I am building just to play HL2. =) I have a list of components, that if money flows like I hope it can, will enable me to get them all for X-Mas. ANY ADVICE ON THIS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRICIATED.
Memory= DDR2-533mhz = $179.49
HD= Western Digital 10,000RPM 74 GB =$160.99 ( you know the raptor =P)
MB= ASUS P5AD2 Premium= 210.00
Proc= P4 3.4 Prescott= $271.99
Now here's the thing. I just finished reading the article here on AnandTech that there are several new ATI cards coming out, and until now the GPU has been really making me very annoyed. The last card I bought was a GF3TI500 =). I wanted to get the X800 XT w/ PC-e. But I;m finding the card is like 530 =(. Now I'm looking at the New GPU's. I'm thinking that the new XT800 will drive down the price of the one I was originally going to buy enough to make it more worthwhile for me. But the new XT800 only runs at 400mhz. (engine clock) What should i do? I got the case, with all the goodies, but the GPU is driving me MAD!!!!!
😕

 

[Mrvile]

Doubt it. I bet they'll stay around 500 bucks. I'd just buy one now if you have the money.

Anyway if you're going to be using this comp for gaming I (and many other AATers) recommened AMD. Probably like a 3500+, which is around that price range (250 bucks). The thing is, PCIe isn't really available to AMD right now, you'll probably have to wait until maybe December.

 

[black3y3]

I want to stay with the p4 for my own reasons. =). I just want the pcie. The Bandwith is good enough I think to make the p4 worthwhile.

 

[Rike]

A64 gets PCIe within the month with nForce4. And PCIe offers no performance advantages over AGP 8X. Also, if you're going to wait until Jan. for the new ATI cards you could just go AMD A64. . .

Don't say Mrvile didn't warn you. 😉