Need critique & suggestions on rig

[Storm]

For Mobo

EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra

or

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D

But I don't think I will OC, so I'll prolly stick with the Epox since its cheaper.

CPU

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Retail

Now if I decide to go with just the cpu and no retail fan. Any recommends on heatsink/fan combos?

Power Supply

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-450 ATX12V 450W or Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-430 ATX12V 430W
What's the difference between TruPower versus SmartPower? SmartPower will automatically regulate itself to use less power if the comp is idle?

Memory

Kind of a dumb question but there is no difference between CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail or CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory - Retail right? What's throwing me off is the way they name the 2 sticks of 512 as Dual Channel kit when its just two sticks but not really dual channel?

Will Corsair Valuselect OC? Or will I have to get this or this?

DVD burner

NEC Silver IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM

Is Nero still the de-facto buring program? What should be the version of Nero I should get?

Video card

GIGABYTE GV-NX66T128D Video Card - Retail
Any other manufacturers putting out better cards?


Flash card reader

Suggestions for a combo with 3.5 floppy? Or just a good internal card reader using usb 2.0?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Kind of a dumb question but there is no difference between CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail or CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory - Retail right? What's throwing me off is the way they name the 2 sticks of 512 as Dual Channel kit when its just two sticks but not really dual channel?

2 Sticks means Dual Channel. The sticks are matched/tested to work. I'd get the Dual Channel kit anyways. Also the 1GB one has CAS3 whereas the 2x512MB one has CAS 2.5

Get the EPOX board sinceyou're not overclocking. But the Epox overclocks well too. I'd stick with the Epox because Value RAM won't work with the DFi.

No point in overclocker's RAM if you're not planning on overclocking.
Smartpower 450 should be good enough. No real need for TruePower if you don't want to overclock.

That video card is good but it runs pretty hot. eVGA/Leadtek run the coolest.

-The Pentium Guy

 

[Storm]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy

Kind of a dumb question but there is no difference between CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail or CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory - Retail right? What's throwing me off is the way they name the 2 sticks of 512 as Dual Channel kit when its just two sticks but not really dual channel?

2 Sticks means Dual Channel. The sticks are matched/tested to work. I'd get the Dual Channel kit anyways. Also the 1GB one has CAS3 whereas the 2x512MB one has CAS 2.5

Get the EPOX board sinceyou're not overclocking. But the Epox overclocks well too. I'd stick with the Epox because Value RAM won't work with the DFi.

No point in overclocker's RAM if you're not planning on overclocking.
Smartpower 450 should be good enough. No real need for TruePower if you don't want to overclock.

That video card is good but it runs pretty hot. eVGA/Leadtek run the coolest.

-The Pentium Guy

What would it take to OC? Just some good ram and some changes to the bios? Do I still need to play around with core voltages? I oc'ed back in the celery 300a days.

 

[Twsmit]

All you need to do is a few bios changes. A 3200+ venice should have no trouble hitting 2.4ghz on stock voltage with the stock cooler. All you would need to do is drop the ram speed down with a divider...or Oc the ram to 240mhz. I have a 3200+ and its able to hit 2.7ghz+ with slightly over stock voltage.

If you have any knowledge with OCing, a venice is a no brainer, up the FSB to 240ish drop down the hyptertransport to 4x speed and use a ram divider.