New System questions before i buy

[XxBoBxX]

I am building this system for gaming and recording TV in the next few months. My main priority is the gaming. I play games like bf2 but don't need the maxxed out graphics middle to mid-hi is about where i want to be. I'm not planning on overclocking.

So...
What I was thinking was...

AMD 64 3500
Nforce 4 mobo
Generic 1gb (2x512) Ram
eVGA GeForce 6800 GT 256
PS to match (over 450 probly 500 good brand)
1or 2 HD (need help here)
and the rest i know enought o fill in later

My questions are:
1- Is the CPU good enough?
2-What core for the PCU should i get?
3- There are several variation of the mobo (reg, Ultra, SLI, SLIx16), WHich is best for the $ or should i be looking else where?
4- Which manufacturer for the mobo?
5- Any specific info on ram ?
5- Sata or IDE? Why?
7- 1 big hd or two smaller? (the tv recording is hd and memory intensive)
8-Any other 2 cents to put in.

Thanks any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Static_11]

1) yes
2) san deigo
3) ultra
4) MSI
5) look in my sig, click the link, find the RAM section
6) same as number 5, look in the harddrive section
7) two big ones
8) everything looks great

 

[XxBoBxX]

Thanks alot

 

[toxicity_27]

I would recommend a DFI mobo. Some MSI mobos have problems with their keyboard and mouse ports, I'm not sure if they fixed it yet or not, but I would go DFI.

 

[XxBoBxX]

the san Diego is only available for 3700 and up.
I'm on a budget, is the extra $30 realy worth any performace boost i might get?

seconddly i just found out about windows xp x64
Should I get this or just get xp and wait for the official x-64 release?

 

[Sprooty]

Yes, it is worth the extra $30. It has an extra 512k L2 Cache.

Wait for the officialy release. The current versions are really buggy with games.

 

[jolancer]

6800GS , performs almost on par with the 6800GT, in some games it performs a little better while others it performs a little worse.... that in my book = equal performanc... except the 6800GS is only $200. clubit.com has it for 200.

HD perfromance only increases Loading, or Install speeds. I just get EIDE cause i dont care how fast stuff loads. but if you do go SATA.

If your capturing and encoding Video, Definatly get 2 seperate HDDs not 1 Big one.... when you encode a Video from 1 format to another, you wont 2 harddrives because it has to read/write at the same time.. having 2 drives will double that speed and limit fragmentation.

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i may be wrong, but wont that system pritty much run any game at High to Max settings?

i tested this comp in the past... 2.4p4, 2gRam, 6800nu agp.. that ran HL2 at Very high, Farcry at Very High, Doom3 at Ultra, BF2 at High/Medium.