Critique please

[peekaboo]

I am preparing to build an AMD system.
These are the components I'm considering:
Case: Anatec Sonata II
CPU: AMD 3500+ 2.2 GHz Venice
Mobo: Asus A8N-E
RAM: Corsair PC3200 1GB Dual Channel
HD: Seagate Barracuda 250 GB SATA
DVD ROM: Liteon
DVD Burner: NEC ND-3540A
(is anything missing?)

What I need is comments on the above hardware and some help in choosing the right Graphics card.

Since I'm not a real gamer, I don't really need a high end graphics card.
Please make suggestions.

 

[Nubius]

Go with a board like MSI or I believe a lot of people generally agree that gigabyte is pretty good.

ASUS is horrible, of course this is my opinion and all, but in my experience they haven't been good....it seems they are better for intels than AMDs, but one thing that's REALLY awful is if you ever need tech support you're out of luck....you'll get horribly translated english from some dude in Taiwan.

If you aren't a real gamer then a 9600XT would be a good choice...it's a good cheap little card that's still quite powerful...however I haven't looked at it's prices in a while and the 6600GT's are like $150 or cheaper in some areas and the 6600GT is much more powerful than the previous card for a great price.

Everything else is fine....I assume you aren't into OC'ing if you are I'd get a 3200+ venice and OC it, and I'd get different RAM as well, but that's ONLY if you plan on OC'ing, plus you'd need a good OC'ers motherboard as well...however if you don't want to OC and don't think you'll never wind up wanting to overclock then you can ignore this paragraph

 

[peekaboo]

Thanks.
I've actually heard good things about the Asus A8N-E.

 

[Nubius]

yeah I'm sure, theres a lot of people who swear by ASUS but their quality has definitely gone down hill in recent years...

just hope you'll never need tech support

 

[PZEROFGH]

one of those 1 in a thousand of getting defective boards, hope your lucky with that asus mobo

 

[damasta55r]

windows and asrctic silver if needed. Looks good. Maybe 3700+ San Diego instead?

 

[peekaboo]

asrctic silver? what's that?
Why 3700+?
my main concern is the right graphics card. 150-200 CAD range.

 

[notquitedead]

This was the video card that was recommended to me:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130214

The 3700+ has twice as much L2 cache as all of the lower numbered AMD Athlon 64's.

 

[damasta55r]

arctic silver 5 thermal compound is better than the retail stuff and only costs $8 bucks a pop. Yep, 6600gt looks good.

 

[peekaboo]

thanks guys.
among the 6600 PCI-e cards, any specific manufacturers?
Does the 128 or 256 MB make a real difference?
I found these(canadian dollars):
128 MB:
1. MSI NX6600-TD128E GeForce 6600 128MB DDR PCI-Express w/DVI, TV-Out (Retail) $159.95
2.Asus Extreme N6600 Silencer GeForce 6600 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express *Fanless* w/DVI, TV-Out (Retail) $149.95
3.Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP - GeForce 6600 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express w/DVI, TV-Out (Retail) $159.00
256 MB:
4. Leadtek WinFast PX6600 TD - GeForce 6600 256MB DDR PCI-Express w/DVI, HDTV-Out (Retail) $169.95
5. Asus Extreme N6600 Silencer GeForce 6600 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express *Fanless* w/DVI, TV-Out (Retail)$159.95
6. Gigabyte GV-NX66256DP - GeForce 6600 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express w/DVI, TV-Out (Retail) $179.00

in the GT category:
7. eVGA e-GeForce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express w/ HDTV support (Retail) $209.95
8. MSI NX6600GT-TD128E GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR PCI-Express w/DVI, TV-Out (Retail) $219.95

Should I go for a 6600 or a radeon x700? I have the same confusion about the manufacturer, suffix and memory with the radeon.