How does this set-up look?

[Refractoryman]

Looking to up-grade from my Asus A7X266-E / Athlon XP2400+ system. Settled on the following. How does it look? Anything else I should change?

NEW
Asus A8V Deluxe (Ver 2) mob
Athlon x2 3800
2gb memory (brand & model suggestion)?

EXISTING
PSU True430
Radeon 8500 video card
80gb ide hd (back-up)
120gb ide hd (os / Apps)
200gb ide hd (back-up)

 

[mountcarlmore]

no, dont get the a8v deluxe, get an epox nforce 4 ultra or a dfi nforce 4 ultra if you need more features and overclocking, although the epox can hold its own. with the memory, it will cost you if you want low latency with 2gb, as im assuming you dont want 4 512 sticks, cause that will drop the timings to 2t. give an idea of what type of memory you want.

 

[ProdigyXL]

Are you getting a new videocard as well? Getting that dual core Athlon will do nothing for your 8500. You should consider getting at least a 800xl, 6800 Vanilla or 6800gt. And that's at the low end. Or you could save up some pennies and go for a 7800GTX or R520 (if it ever ships). Regardless you should really consider a more powerful card to match that great core.

Memory wise Cosair is pretty great, and they have a life time warrenty. That's always a bonus. I have 2 gigs and truthfully the only program that uses over a gig I think is BF2. You might want to get just a gig for now and spend the other money on a better graphics card, it will would be a better trade off. The harddrives and that are fine, getting SATA drives would be pointless as they don't provide any performance over IDE.

I'm not an expert on Althon based motherboards but a nForce 4 based system seem to be the tops when coupled with a powerful Athlon. Hope that helps.

 

[sundev]

I agree with both mountcarlmore and ProdigyXL. You should switch up your motherboard, and look into getting a more powerful video card (that is, if you do any gaming).

If you do game, and you picked the above rig because it meets your pricepoint or whatever, I would suggest downgrading the processor to maybe a 3500+ Venice, which would save you around $150, which you could put towards a better video card (for example a 6800GT would only be another $100 or so).

EDIT: Spelling

 

[Refractoryman]

If I upgrade to a pci-E board I will need a psu that is 2.0 compliant. That is why I want to stay with an agp board. I am still hooked on the asus board primarily for all the features and the 5 pci slots. I have to have the ide "raid" controller for my 3rd hard drive unless there is another board that would allow me to hook up 5 ide devices. What would be a good low cost video card to go with? I do no gaming. All CAD "AUTOCAD" and photo editing.