AM2+ Build, Looking for Advice, Opinions, Suggestions

[Captain Canuck]

Hi guys, I am putting together an AM2+ gaming rig for my brother. It will be running XP for now until Windows 7 rolls down the line at which point it will see an upgrade. I have an absolute maximum budget of $800 Canadian.

This is what I am looking at for parts right now and currently totals $797cdn. Just seeing if anyone has any advice or opinions on this build which would help me out. Thanks in advance.

- Processor (CPU): AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Dual Core Processor Socket AM2+ 2.7GHZ 3MB 65NM 95W
- Motherboard: ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe ATX AM2+ AMD790FX + SB750 DDR2 4PCI-E16 2PCI GBLAN Sound eSATA
- DDR2 Memory (RAM): Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory
- Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD2600XT 800MHZ 512MB 1.4GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I TV Out
- Computer Case and PSU: Antec Sonata III Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 500W 120MM Fan
- Hard Drives: Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive
- DVD Writer: Samsung SH-S223F/BEBS 22X Speed Plus Black SATA DVD Writer

 

[Ryken]

I would say that you are spending too much on the motherboard. That ASUS board has four pci-e slots, and you won't ever need more than two with that processor. I'd go with the Gigabyte board below. It is cheaper and the same chipset.

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P ($140 Canadian)

That graphics card you picked out is AGP. None of the new boards use that interface anymore. The one below is a great buy right now.

Sapphire 4830 ($113 Canadian)

The RAM you have is solid stuff, I bought it for my rig a year ago and love it. Right now though, you are probably better off buying this G.Skill 4GB set for only $14 more.

G.Skill 4GB DDR2 800 ($52 Canadian)

EDIT: removed part about processor compatibility. Thought the ASUS board wouldn't do phenom II, but it looks like the reviews of it state otherwise.

 

[bigbaddabooma]

anything in the 2000 series ati cards are junk....