New computer setup..

[diabloII]

AMD 64 3400+ / Asus A8V Deluxe Via Sock. 939 ---
2x 512mb ultra ram (can be found on tiger direct, i really don't want to spend any more money than this on ram because the performance diffrence isn't THAT big...so yea)
some small quiet 40gb hard will do
XFX nVIDIA 6600gt (AGP 8x)

so my questions are:

should i go with the XFX 6600gt [currently has $25 rebate on tiger direct] (faster clock w/o overclock even tho eVGA is easier to OC), or should i go with another brand of 6600GT (and with pci-e, or no, because i've heard that pci-e doesn't make a difference since games don't even go as fast as 8x yet, not to mention 16x), and if so, do i need another mobo? (but tiger direct has a great deal - $100 mail in rebate for cpu+mobo, so i wanna stick with AGP)

in addition, how much power(watts) should i get in a new case to support the 6600GT (assuming i don't OC), i don't want to spend a lot on a case, since i have a budget (buying online seems expensive, are there retail stores such as best buy;s or fry's or something that sell decent cases that aren't overpriced?)

one more thing - do the XFX 6600gts sold on www.tigerdirect.com come with the so called "new" fan/heatsink that claims to reduce temperatures by 10-20C?

oooh! and one more thing, would i see a big change in performance if i get dual channel memory (assuming i can spend around 100-150 on memory, is getting 1 gig of generic ram the best way to go?)

i'm planning on playing games such as half life and CS:source

any changes in my pc build is welcome (as long as it doesn't break my budget)

ty.

 

[turtile]

You should get 1 GIG of memory
380w should be enouph maybe even 350w

 

[Regulus]

He already has 1 gig, man:

2x 512mb ultra ram (can be found ...

Get an eVga, not XFX. There are a lot of problems you'll have with an XFX card. eVga is the best out there. I don't know about PCI-E. Never messed with it. I'd say around 300W-480W ougta do nicely with that setup. Yes, you will see a diff in Dual Channel RAM. More expensive, but more performance.

P.S. Don't buy from tigerdirect. They are really expensive compared to the other places.

 

[d_source]

just a note that the 6600gt comes with the recommendatio of AT LEAST 350W power supply. I went with 420W to be safe, and since i'll be running other stuff at the same time.

 

[diabloII]

i'm buying the cpu/mobo combo and my 1 gig of ram from tiger direct since they have a $100 rebate on the cpu/mobo and $30 rebate on each 512 mb stick

and ok, i'll go with the eVGA, ty for the sugggestion

and one more question, if i'm buying some generic brand case, is 400W enough?

also, is the stock cooling good enough for light overclocking of the video card?