[KappaWing]

My friend helped me choose the components for this upgrade, and I'm coming to you guys for a second opinion. All i need to know if all these components will be compatible with each other. Help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103547
---> $355
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128301
---> $98
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143047
---> $559
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579
---> $139
PS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182010
---> $65

Total: $1216

[CP5670]

yeah, they'll work fine, although some of the things are not really good choices for those prices.

[KappaWing]

Where can i get the same thing for less than?

[Scuddie]

First of all, the CPU is a dual core.  Judging from the video card, it's going to be a gaming rig.  Throw out the dual core and get a single A64 3000+ and OC it to 2.4GHz.  Dual core on gaming rigs are simply a waste of cash.  Second...  A 7900GTX?  Are you insane, or do you have e-penis envy?  I can get 80% performance of that card with a 6800GS, and pay roughly 1/4 price.  There is absolutely no merrit for that card whatsoever.  Third, stay away from Rosewill if you want a decent PSU.  Go for a Fortron group PSU and get the 450 for 50 bucks.  Fourthly, nForce4-SLI motherboards suck ass.  Either go full nForce4-SLIx16 chipset, or drop SLI...  I would prefer the latter.

[CP5670]

[q]Where can i get the same thing for less than?[/q]

CPU: Good choice and price if you aren't overclocking. (if you are, find some Monarch coupons and get an Opteron 165 from there)

MB: That board reportedly doesn't have good voltage regulation. You're better off with an Epox or Abit board instead, or a DFI if you can spend a bit more.

Video card: Really bad choice for that price, I got the exact same thing for $390 at the Dell discount two weeks ago. Either get an X1900 XT for $120 less (superior card for the money, I sort of wish I had gotten one instead) spend $50 more for two 500mhz 7900 GTs (which pummel the GTX in modern games), or wait a month or two for another Dell offer.

Memory: Get the red G.skill value sticks instead for better timings and compatibility for the same price, or go to ebay and try to win some high end OCZ memory pack for a throwaway price like I did.

PS: That looks like a rebadged Aspire, which means it's crap. Get the 465W Enermax Whisper instead for $15 more.

[q] I can get 80% performance of that card with a 6800GS, and pay roughly 1/4 price. [/q]

Most ridiculous comment I've seen in a while, and I read a lot of BS on the internet these days.

[Nix]

If I ever met your friend in a dark alley, I'd have a few choice words with him or a quick stab in the side. 

Ok, on the serious side, yeah, I will agree with CP5670 on the 6800GS comment.  Seeing some of the 6000 series cards being priced as high as they are, and getting a midrange 7K series card, you're probably better off getting a 7K, just for the newer core.

And WTF is all this crap about Corsair RAM?  Everyone around here thinks it's the shizz-NIITE, where I swear by Mushkin and Crucial.  I've heard of nasty problems with Corsair being so dammed picky in motherboards.  Are the performance gains THAT MUCH BETTER than getting Mushkin RAM comparitive to Corsair's RAM? 

[Fury]

CPU: I disagree with Scuddie, Athlon X2's are very good CPU's and the dual core will be handy. While dual core won't dramatically improve gaming performance unless the game supports dual cores, it will still offer you noticeably smoother overall experience.

MB: Agreed with CP5670.

GPU: Don't bother paying that much for a new video card. If you can, try to find 7800GT as these have become cheaper and can still offer nearly the performance of 7800GTX and 7900GTX. Alternatively 7900GT would also be a better choice than 7900GTX.

RAM: I don't have personal experience with Corsair RAM, should be quality RAM as long as the RAM and the MB goes along well.

PS: Don't bother buying "noname" brands or brands that are considered cheap. Personally I'd recommend Antec.

[CP5670]

One interesting option with the video card is to get a cheap 7900 GT, replace the cooler and turn it into a GTX. There is a very simple pencil voltmod you can do and get GTX core and memory speeds almost guaranteed. I was planning to do that myself, but Dell was backordered on the GTs for over two months.

[q]And WTF is all this crap about Corsair RAM?  Everyone around here thinks it's the shizz-NIITE, where I swear by Mushkin and Crucial.  I've heard of nasty problems with Corsair being so dammed picky in motherboards.  Are the performance gains THAT MUCH BETTER than getting Mushkin RAM comparitive to Corsair's RAM?[/q]

My corsair value memory actually works very well, but it's nearly two years old and the chips they use these days are reportedly not that good. They no longer hold any performance advantage either with their 2GB packs. As for the XMS stuff, from what I've seen it's more expensive than the other brands and is frequently incompatible with what are by far the most popular overclocker boards these days, the DFI ones.