New PC Component Help

[Britboy]

I will be building a new PC in a month or so and need to get some advice on a few components.

I already have the following:

X800XT PE Video Card
2 x 74 Raptor for Raid 0
1 x 200GB 7200RPM Maxtor for storage
420W Thermaltake PSU

Will be purchasing:

Athlon 64 3500 Processor (939)
Case and other stuff

Need recommendations for:

939 Motherboard - Currently looking at Neo2 Platinum
RAM - Corsair XMS RAM

Do I really need to spend this much money on the RAM? What if I went for something like the value series for 100 bucks less , is it going to be a weak point in my system or will I barely notice a performance difference?

cheaper

Any other words of wisdom to help me build a nice gaming rig?

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[maxtorblaster]

I don't know about the ram, if your going to overclock just stick with fast high quality ram. If running standard speeds, it's your call. How much did you spend on that Raptor raid setup? Despite me having tons of IDE drive, I still am SCSI supporter just because those things are just lightening fast. Get a 15000RPM scsi and you can even run a system off of simply the pagefile and will still run fast because it's just a good interface/drive. I would wait for the NFORCE4 based chipset before going all out because thats suppose to be real nice. I got a friend on NForce2 chipset and I gotta say, it's very stable for an AMD setup. If AMD would just pump out a chipset so there would be a lot less incompatibility and less likely hood of having crashes like with a SIS chipset based motherboard, IMO.

 

[Britboy]

I got my Raptors for $158 each from Newegg after $20 rebates. Never set up SATA or RAID before so am hoping it's not too painful.

I don't know when those NForce4 boards are coming out but I don't plan OC'ing and really want to put this PC together soon, especially since I have my XT PE running in an 8250 Dell stuck with 512MB of RDRAM right now (filled all 4 banks and refuse to buy any more). I got the lowest 3DMark scores for that videocard when comparing results on the 3DMark site, how sad is that!

 

[dmw16]

That would be a good board. I wouldnt wait for nForce4 because really the big addition is PCIe support, and you have a high end vid card that would be useless as they probably wont be support AGP on the new boards. Alternatly, I guess you could wait for nForce4, sell your x800XT and get an x800XT for PCIe. So like I said in the first sentence. Go w/ an nForce3 Ultra solution I think you will be very happy.

On the topic of RAM, I see no need for the XMS stuff unless you are going to overclock, and even if you are, that stuff is not the best choice. If you are going to overclock, you dont want to get PC3200(DDR400) because it gives you no guarenteed headroom when you start uping to bus speed. If you want to overclock then get something like this and if you don't plan on overclocking than that 2nd link to memory in your post would be perfect. The best advice I have on RAM is don't be suckered in by low timings. The performance gains are minimal at best, and really are only seen in benchmarks and maybe give you an extra fps or 2.

 

[Appledrop]

id get a 90nm 3200+ they overclock to like 4000+.

 

[Comparisonman]

If you don't plan on overclocking, that Corsair value select ram should be fine. You can get better performance by purchasing some good OCZ Platinum or Corsair XMS with better timings, but you will need to spend much more.

 

[Britboy]

Thanks for all the info guys, much appreciated!