Need advice on this system - should I buy or not? Upgrade options?

I have the opportunity to pick up this system for $325 shipped, what do you guys think? Read below for my question about the ram/mobo


* AMD Athlon 3700+ (Fastest Socket 754 Processor available) with upgraded CPU Cooler/Fan
* 1.5GB PC3200 RAM
* 2x Western Digital Raptors (37GB each) - 10000RPM Hard drives (Faster than regular hard drives which are usually 7500RPMs) - Perfect for RAID0 Array
* 1x Maxtor 200GB IDE Hard Drive
* ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition AGP Graphics Card
* OCZ Technologies Modstream 520W Power Supply
* Sony 16X DVD +- RW DVD Burner
* Antec Super LANBoy Case (lightweight, relatively portable)
* ABit NF8 Socket 754 Motherboard



One thing I see being an issue is this: I just read that the Abit NF8 S754 boards only have 2 dimm slots. I was planning on picking this system up and putting in my 2GB (1 x 1gig and 2x 512mb) Corsair Valueselect in it - but that obviously won't work with the supplied board.

So my first question is - is this setup a good deal. Hardware/price wise. I'm thinking it is.

Second - what should I do about the ram/mobo situation? Should I just put in 1.5 GB of my Valueselect and run it in SDR? Should I buy a better mobo and then run my 2gig Valueselect?

I'll be using this system for moderate gaming - BF2, Flight Simulator 9 (not FSX, at least not yet), HL2, etc.

I'd be upgrading from this:

Asus A7N8X (NOT the Deluxe or E version)
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
Silverstone Zues 530w PSU (I could sell either this PSU or the new PSU probably)
ATI Radeon X850 Pro AGP (could probably sell this for a bit of cash too, only 6 months old)
2GB Corsair Valueselect
Crappy old 5400rpm WD 30GB HD
DVD burner
CD burner

Price wise it looks like a pretty good deal to me. As for the RAM situation I would just bench it and see what comes out the best. If possible I would try to get another stick off that 1 gig and run that in DC.

It looks like a decent deal to me.
Does the OS come with it? It'd be a bonus if it did.
What kind of ram comes with it? "* 1.5GB PC3200 RAM" Or is that your ram? Maybe you could use the one stick of gig and your gig for a dual channel?
I've sold systems like that for a little more than 500 recently.

OnDborder said:

It looks like a decent deal to me.
Does the OS come with it? It'd be a bonus if it did.
What kind of ram comes with it? "* 1.5GB PC3200 RAM" Or is that your ram? Maybe you could use the one stick of gig and your gig for a dual channel?
I've sold systems like that for a little more than 500 recently.

Click to expand...

Yes it comes with XP installed and the XP CD.

Everything listed is what comes in the computer... so I'm assuming that the RAM is just some cheapo stuff - since he listed the brand and what's good about all the other components but neglected to mention any details about the RAM.

I hadn't thought about using my 1GB stick and his 1GB stick, that's a possibility I suppose... hmmmm.

hmm

ull def notice a diff from what ur upgrading from..
the western digital hdds definitly make it worth considering.
the video card, the memeory and the hard drives should run the games smoothly.

the only problem i see with it is the cpu and motherboard are kinda out dated.

for the price though, id say its a good deal