Computer Overhaul - any suggestions?

[TheLoneRebel]

Hey, I'm looking to upgrade my present rig to A64 and my big question is whether you guys think I should buy now or wait till slightly after Christmas for the best prices? Anyways, here's about what I was thinking of getting and trying to keep it under $900ish

Athlon64 3200+ 90nm - $249
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra - $136.99
Crucial Ballistix 512MBX2 PC3200 CAS 2 - $246
OR
Corsair Value Select Dual Pack PC3200 512MBX2 - $141.25
(depending on how much I end up spending)
(all prices are from newegg)
$631.99 w/ the Ballistix
$527.24 w/ the Corsair Value

I'm figuring I'll probably go ahead and spend another $100-$120 or so and get a DVD burner and possibly a TV tuner card (convenience in a college dorm room).

I'm also considering getting a WD Raptor and a 6800GT, but $350+ for a video card just seems like a lot to me, though I plan to upgrade my video one way or another.

My only other consideration was waiting for the nForce4 boards to come out, but it looks like the performance gain isn't terribly significant and the market for pcix vid cards seems even drier than that for agp.


Thanks for any help!

 

[johnsquare]

its a pretty decent system.. for me... i dont think i would really want to wait for the new chipset.... a better one would come out surely next year

 

[Kreep]

Edit, didnt read whole post.

sounds like it will be a nice setup

 

[TheLoneRebel]

Starting to get it narrowed down a little better, found some better prices on zipzoomfly:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor Socket 939 Retail ***Free 2nd Day***
Remove $163.00 $163.00

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Dual LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free 2nd Day***
Remove $134.99 $134.99

NEC ND-3500A 16X Double Layer DVD?RW Bare Drive (Black) ***Free 2nd Day***
Remove $63.99 $63.99

Subtotal: $361.98


edit: RAM and Video will likely come from newegg:

Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 - OEM
Item# N82E16820145440 $141.25

Total: $503.23

Now I just need to figure out which vid card to get, I'm leaning toward the Asus 128mb 6800GT though I know it only has DDR1.

I'm also probably going to add in a TV-Tuner card (still looking for a good brand) and like in the first post, if there's enough money left over after Christmas and stuff probly get a Raptor or Z-5500's.