Need advice for new build

[Dreadnok]

Hello all,
I would like to get some advice on the system I will be building in the next month or so. I think I have picked out some pretty good components but would like some advice if anyone sees something I could do better performance wise for about the same amount of money. I have read some reviews on the P180 case and they say that since the psu sits at the bottom you need a fairly long connectors on the psu depending on the mobo you choose to make sure they reach. Anyone know if that will be an issue with the hardware I have picked out? Also as far as the video goes, Would I get any better performance if I ran two lesser cards like 6600GT's in SLI over the single 7800GT? I am mainly building this rig to play BF2. Any advice is appreciated.

Case : Antec Performance I P180
Mobo : Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Video : XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT PCI Express x16
PSU : Thermaltake Silent Pure Power W0049RUC 680w
CPU : Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core
Ram : 2GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 (Twinx2048-3200c2pt)
HD : WD Raptor WD740GD
Sound : Creative X-Fi Xtreme

 

[rapidisimo]

Setup looks good.
I would just get the 7800GT and then later on get another 7800GT to do SLI

 

[Dreadnok]

After doing a little more browsing I have come up with an attractive option for a different system. Would you stay with this first system

Case : Antec Performance I P180
Mobo : Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Video : XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT PCI Express x16
PSU : Thermaltake Silent Pure Power W0049RUC 680w
CPU : Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core
Ram : 2GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 (Twinx2048-3200c2pt)
HD : WD Raptor WD740GD
Sound : Creative X-Fi Xtreme

Or go with this one?

Case : Antec Performance I P180
Mobo : DFI LanParty nF4 SLI-DR
Video : BFG Tech BFGR78256GTXOC Geforce 7800GTX
PSU : SeaSonic S12-600 ATX12V 600W
CPU : Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Heatsink : Thermalright XP-90c
Ram : 1GB OCZ Platinum Series (EB) PC4000 (Is this the right ram for the DFI mobo?)
HD : WD Raptor WD740GD
Sound : Onboard

I think this second one would perform better due to the X2 cpu and the better video card but to stay near the same budget I had to drop to 1GB ram and drop the X-Fi card and go with the onboard audio. What do you think?

 

[KoolDrew]

Get rid of the SLI motherboard. It is just a waste of money.

TT PSU's are "average." They are not so bad that you shouldn't use them at all, but there are much better options that cost less or around the same. With a single card and an A64 a Fortron AX500-A would be more then enough, and it is ~$70.

I would either just get a 3000+ or bump up to a dual-core.

I would suggest going with Value RAM, but if you really want to do some serious overclocking and have the money to spend go with Crucial Ballistix.

I wouldn't even bother with the Raptor. It does not offer a significant enough performance advantage to justify how much it costs. I would suggest something like the Hitachi 7K400.

 

[biostud]

I have the seasonic myself but I think the cables might not be long enough for the Antec P180. (I'm not sure on it, but you might want to check up on it.)

 

[rapidisimo]

2 GB of RAM 😉
That would be the sweetspot now aday's....

 

[Indred]

This is why i love forums I was looking at a ASUS AN8-SLI and i think i just change my mind to DFI LanParty nF4 SLI-DR.

 

[eXx08]

MSI K8N-Neo4 Platinum
AMD X2 3800+
Seasonic S-12 600Watt
2x1GB Corsair ValueSelct
EvGa 7800GTX
Seagate 7200.8 250GB HDD
Onboard Sound is great on MSI board
Antec P-180

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

No SLI. SLI is a retarded waste of money. Get the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D.

No Raptor. Raptors are a retarded waste of money. Get a nice Seagate 7200.9.

No premium overclocking RAM. Premium overclocking RAM is a waste of money. Not much of a performance increase, and you can always run a divider when overclocking. Get 2x1GB of Corsair/OCZ/Crucial value RAM.

No Thermaltake PSU. There are much better ways to spend your money.

Keep the X2 3800+. It's a lot better than the Venice.

Get the X-Fi ExtremeMusic. You don't need the Platinum. Make sure you have good speakers though.