is this a good gaming pc?

[grasshopperbe]

We're putting together a pc for a friend, mainly ment as a gaming rig.

these are the components he's thinking of

-Asus M2R32-MVP crosshair : +-230€
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ - AM2 : +-320€
-zalman CNPS9500 AM2 : 45€
- Corsair Twin2X 2048MB (2 x 1024MB) - DDR2 PC5400 - CL4 - Heatspreaders : 236€
-MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE - PCI-E - 1024MB - Dual DVI - TV-Out : € 579

about the cpu, wouldn't a 4200+ do the job just as well?

for the hd i'm doubting between
-Maxtor 250GB - SATA II 300 - 7200rpm - 16mb
-Western Digital 2500JS - 250GB - SATA II - 7200rpm - 8mb
which one is the best of these 2?

the psu will be a 500w enermax or antec, depends on what i can find in the local store.

are these worthy components for a good gaming rig? any comments,critic remarks, are very welcome

[blue60007]

Looks good. You'll want DDR2-800 PC2-6400 though...otherwise, it'll hurt performance compared to a Socket 939 system.

I'd go with the 16MB cache hard drive.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Unless that proc is an oem you wont need an additional heatsink. Of course its fine if he wants to upgrade over the stock one but keep in mind you do void warranties.

I would suggest the PC6400/DDR2 800 version of the corsair stuff. But if its not possible to get you will be fine with the PC5400.

On the harddrive I would really try to get a Western Digital or Seagate 16mb'er. If not possible then I would choose the maxtor..

[glc]

The only question I have is why an ATI chipset Crossfire board?

[Dr Dmoney]

Well, if you want power in a CPU and want to save some money. Get a e6400 from intel. Thats is if you don't care if you have an intel. Look it can out perform the fx series.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2802&p=4
It is all over a good build for amd but if you want more bang for your buck get a e6400 or even a e6600 if you can spare some more change.

[grasshopperbe]

thank you for all the information,

i'll change the RAM to 6400 instead of 5400, as he's on a pretty big budget

i checked around for the hard drives, but the maxtor one seems to be the
only one with 16mb i can find here, WD only has 8 mb ones, and seagate isn't sold
around here anymore for some reason.

@Glc, the person for whom the pc is wrote that mobo on his note (what he originally put together) I checked some reviews and it seems to perform pretty well.
Would any of these 2 mobo's be a better choice? (i'm an nforce fan myself)

asus MB M2N32-SLI Del/AM2 NVIDIA nForce SLI € 211,29
asus MB M2N32 Ws PRO/AM2 nForce 590 SLI MCP € 277

i read a review with a comparison between the m2n32-sli deluxe and M2R32-MVP(hexus.net),
they seemed to be pleased about both boards.

about those intel chipsets, that review looks promising, but i haven't done an
intel build in years anymore (all nforce's) so i'll need to do some reading up
first.

[glc]

What about the M2N-E to save some money? I can't foresee running two of those monster cards in SLI, can you?

[grasshopperbe]

is there any difference between the chipsets? on the dutch asus page it says the
M2N-E has a 570 Ultra chipset, and the other two 590 SLI. is the Sli the only real difference?

About the ATI Crossfire board, is it better to stay away from? i have totally
no experience with these but the specs seemed ok.

I have no idea about sli, i only know the basics about it, but i have no idea if it will
be seriously supported in games etc, but since he set a high enough budget i just figured i'd stick to the best. i'm going to show him the mobo's and let him decide.

Personally i do my occasional gaming on my 'old' abit nf7s and 9800pro card,
that still good enough for me

[dogdude16]

here is a western digital 16 mb buffer sata hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136009

[grasshopperbe]

thanks for the info, but i can't buy from newegg and the likes since i'm from europe(no international shipping) , plus i nor anyone i know owns visa or other credit cards (you need a very good income before they even consider giving you one around here).