Final Checklist before the Plunge

[Shifty52]

Hello.

I've been a guest lurker here for awhile reading your guy's posts. It would seem the majority of you guys really dig making your own machine. So I am here to see if there is any other suggestions you could make for the parts I have chosen, before I drop the axe for the buildoff.

The budget I am aiming for is 2200-2500, 80/20 split in favor of online/single player gaming over actual work. If anyone has any ideas for either better performance or quite possibly saving of money I would greatly appreciate it. With everything I have listed below it comes to 2,052.91 Shipped and without factoring in any rebates. So I do have some room to play with. I've done a handy amount of research and have chosen parts that hopefully will be able to keep me future proof for awhile.

Thanks for the help in advance.

PC:

Case:Aspire X-Navigator
Mobo:DFI Lanparty
CPU:AMD Opteron 170 Denmark
RAM:G.skill 2GB
Hard Drive:Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM / Seagate Barracuda 7200 250GB
Video Card:eVGA 512-P2-N570 GeForce 7900GTX
Cooling:Zalman CNP9500 , Artic Silver 5 Paste
Card Reader:Bytecc 42 in 1 Card Reader
Power Supply:Fortron Source 700W
OS: XP Home - OEM

There it is in a nutshell. Mostly priced out from ZZF and NE. Hopefully my choices are alright and will work well this way, however if you guys have any input into something better, or a way to cut costs without sacrificing performance much, let me know. Thanks!

Shifty

Edit for changes/Additions
Don't know if it will Work, but I do have this as a Saved, Shared Wishlist at Newegg under the name of "Shiftys' Rig"

 

[Green Radience]

Motherboard: DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR Expert.

CPU: Opteron 165.

Memory: G.Skill 2 x 1GB DDR500 (Best 2 x 1GB overclockers).

Drop the 150GB Raptor and get the 74 GB one. Then add
250GB Seagate Barracuda SATA150.

 

[Shifty52]

Took greens advice on the HD and also added a PS. The case comes with a 500W but I want somethin a tad more than that.

 

[john3]

maybe he doesnt know how to OC, if you dont get the 4800+, if you DO get the opteron 165.

 

[Liamo0o]

if you have a 2,500 cap and ur using it 80% for gaming I would put a bit more into the GPU, maybe upgrade to a 7900GTX (no SLI though). I'm assuming you already have a moniter and optical drives?

 

[Shifty52]

Yah, I have Monitor, Keyboard, SoundBlaster X-FI Card already, The DVD and CD-R Drives already. Just basically need a new core system that will be excellent for gaming....And a little business..

 

[Green Radience]

Take the rest of my advice too, lol. Overclocking will save you tons of money on your system, which can be put somewhere else.

 

[slick_tech15]

Yeah, with that much money you should be able to get in a 7900 gtx. But i would save a bunch of money and get the Opteron 165 or 170

 

[Shifty52]

Is the difference between a GT and GTX that much noticeable for the price increase?? It is a good 200 dollars in some cases.

 

[Shifty52]

Alrighty,

Switched the 7900GT for the 7900GTX, that is if I can get one... Places have these things in stock 1 day and out of stock the next hour.

I've seen alot of people recommending the DFI Motherboard, What makes this one a better achiever over the Asus board (aside from cost). I've read up on both of them and they seem to be almost neck and neck in terms of what they can and can't do. Some things Asus takes the lead on, and others DFI is the winner. Any Particular reason or rhyme as to why alot of people are digging this (DFI) board?

Thanks
S