Opinions wanted on new PC Parts

[MVS]

Current:
Athlon 700
196 PC100 RAM
ATI Radeon 8500 AIW

Next:
Athlon 2100 XP (have this now, friend gave me it)

MOBO $61.00:
ASUS KT400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "A7V8X-X" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Supported CPU: Socket A AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors
Chipsets: VIA KT400 + VT8235
FSB: 333/266/200MHz
RAM: 3x DIMM for non-ECC un-buffered DDR333/266 Max 3GB(DDR400 Max 2 banks,DDR333 4 banks)
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 6x PCI
Ports: 2xPS2,1xLPT,1xCOM,SPDIF Out,6xUSB2.0(Rear 4),1xLAN,Audio Ports

RAM $73.00
Buffalo Technology 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-2700, Micron, Samsung or Infineon Chipset Memory Module - OEM
Specification
Manufacturer: Buffalo Technology
Speed: DDR333(PC2700)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2.5
Support Voltage: 2.5V
Bandwidth: 2.7GB/s
Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit

Video Card $339.00
ASUS ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/VIVO, 8X AGP -RETAIL
Specifications:
Chipset/Core Speed: ATI RADEON 9800PRO/380MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 256MB DDR/680MHz
BUS: AGP 1X/2X/4X/8X
Ports: VGA Out(15 Pin D-Sub)+VIVO+DVI connector
Support 3D API: DirectX®9, OpenGL®2.0
Cable/Accessories: VIVO Adapter, VGA via DVI Adapter, Driver CD, Manual
Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@85Hz


Anyone see any problems with the mobo and the ram, or do I have the right set for both and the new CPU?

Anyone have one of these video cards or impressions?

Ordering in a week, so, no hurry. Thanks.

Grand total is 473.99, at newegg.com

[Bonestorm]

looks good, except I think that Athlon 2100 won't allow you go get everything out of your radeon 9800. I guess down the road you could upgrade the processor when they drop in price (thats what I do).

[Rumpy]

I saw that 9800 Pro on sale at Best Buy. 200 bucks after discount and mail in rebate iirc.

[Lhadatt]

That board can do dual channel and DDR400, you might want to try both. For RAM, I suggest Geil. If you want to go dual channel, you'll need two sticks of the same size and speed. I recommend that you buy both at the same time. When you upgrade, you'll have to buy two new sticks, since motherboards in dual channel mode only support 2 sticks, not any more than that even if they have available RAM slots. If you put another RAM chip in there, the dual channel mode will be deactivated.

Even if you don't do dual channel, I recommend bumping that RAM to DDR400.

[Calliander]

Tonic and Lhadatt beat me.

I would go with this mobo because of the 400 FSB and the SATA. But the one you have is good, too.

[Brotherman]

Sounds nice so far. The main thing that sticks out is that it sounds like your motherboard has integrated sound. That's only an issue depending on how good the built in sound card is and how much you care able sound. As long as it lets you disable it if you do decide to go with an external sound card, that shouldn't be a problem though.

[Dyne]

i say skip on the 256 meg version of the 9800. in my opinion its not worth the extra money your going to pay (over $100) compared to the regular 9800pro (mebbe 3-5fps increase and most games wont even utilize it). save the money or get 512 more ram. youll thank me for it. either that or use the money your saving, for the dfi lanparty mobo, use the dual channel (2*256 ram) and overclock the fuck out of that 2100 (which probably wont be very much).

[MVS]

I think I'll change the RAM to one clip of 512 DDR 400 (170 bucks), then eventually get a second and do the dual thing as you suggest, Lhadatt.

Though, is it better to use one single clip of 512 (or any multiple for that matter) or use 2 sticks of 256 DDR 400?

256 of Geil is about 60 bucks @ newegg, so 120 for dual 256's.
512 of Geil is around 100 per, so 200 on dual 512's.

I'll probably reduce the 9800 256 to a 9800 Pro, I'm just hoping to run games at around 60 FPS at 1024x768.

Thanks to all for the info, quite helpful.

Something like this, perhaps:

Geil Ultra Series Value Dual Channel 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200 w/ Blue Heatspreader - Retail
Specification
Manufacturer: Geil
Speed: DDR400(PC3200)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2.5 7-4-4
Support Voltage: 2.55V-2.95V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: two 32M x 64 -Bit
Special Features: Optimized SPD for Dual Channel DDR motherboards

[Lhadatt]

I think I'll change the RAM to one clip of 512 DDR 400 (170 bucks), then eventually get a second and do the dual thing as you suggest, Lhadatt.

Though, is it better to use one single clip of 512 (or any multiple for that matter) or use 2 sticks of 256 DDR 400?

If you want to upgrade later, get the one stick now. Just remember what kind of RAM you get, since you'll need to get that same type later on to run in dual channel.

I'll probably reduce the 9800 256 to a 9800 Pro, I'm just hoping to run games at around 60 FPS at 1024x768.

Both of those should do the trick. Your bottleneck here, and even in the case of a Radeon 9600 Pro/XT is CPU speed. If you can bump that up a little, you'll get 60fps for sure while still being able to spend a bit less on a graphics card.

Geil Ultra Series Value Dual Channel 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200 w/ Blue Heatspreader - Retail

That will do quite nicely. I have something similar - their Golden Dragon CAS2 RAM, which works very well. The RAM you listed is CAS2.5, meaning it's a little bit slower.

[MVS]

So are you saying it's better to just buy a new CPU (one of the Bartons @ +-3ghz), and one stick of 512, versus sticking with the 2100 and getting 2 512's?

Both with a 9800 Pro, I mean.