I this a good system?

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Good choice on the mobo :thumbsup:
I have it myself, and it is indeed an excellent board. Corsair RAM works perfectly fine with it. I have 2 512MB sticks of Corsair ValueSelect in it now. You'll get pretty decent overclock on it, but it's not as good as the EPoX or DFI for overclocking. The VDIMM only goes up to 2.85, so keep that in mind if you decide to get any super-expensive premium high-voltage RAM. I'm running my 3200+ Venice @ 2.5Ghz easily on stock cooling. I'm sure that I could go higher, but I'm too lazy. It's a great board with tons of features. I highly recommend it.

 

[mOeeOm]

Don't get the Asus x800xl, its memory is underclocked by 10mhz from other X800XL, get a built by ATI or just something else.

 

[mrkun]

If you're getting the DFI board, go with a 3000+ since all the Venice CPUs clock to pretty much the same speeds. I would go with an XP-90 and a good fan as that will cost the same as the 7000 and weigh half as much. Also, DFI requires a 24-pin native 480W PSU w/ 26 amps on the +12v rail if you want to get tech support. Your best bet is probably the Antec SP2 500W which can be had for around $70 shipped.

 

[GamerExpress]

Originally posted by: theman
get a thermalright xp-90 cooler. WAY better performance. just pick up a panaflo fan.

Yep I second that.

I also disagree with the statement about DFI for newbie builders, I think it's just fine for a newb builder. I agree that if you are going to overclock the DFI can be overwhelming with all of the settings, but a newb will have no problem with the build alone. If a newb builder wants to go ahead and overclock, there is plenty of information out there to help with that.