Looking for some advice

[Exergy]

Right, well first of hello all, new to these boards followed a review link and found the forums to be quality, so figured here would be a decent place to post.

Im looking to build a fairly budget system, which is capable of some decent gaming, for example Bf2 capable, im not expecting a great deal as I have a low price. Basically im aiming to get the base built for £450. Not alot, so theres the challenge, ive been reading around, the more I read the more I come across conflicting views and new terms to read up on. Its all rather confusing, so below is a rough spec im looking at and a few questions, any help would be greatly appreicated.

CPU: A64 3000+ Venice = £95

First question: In OEM, what exactly do I get? Im guessing theres no heatsink + fan? Do you recommend OEM, or should I stay retail? If OEM, please recommend a decent but affordable heatsink + fan.

MOBO (Unsure):

Abit AN8 SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-073-AB) = £102
DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF) = £100
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-046-MS) = £94
MSI K8N Neo4-F nForce4 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-053-MS) = £73

So far from what I can see, all of those are decent boards? Are there any underlying issues I should be aware of before I by the cheapest £73 one?

RAM:

G.Skill 1GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x512MB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-1GBZX) (MY-002-GS) = £77
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2 (MY-030-CS) = £83

So Ram is perhaps what im finding most confusing, so much talk about latency and timings? Id really appreciate a little overview of what timings are and why some ram is so much better than others? Anyways of those too, im siding with the cheaper as usual, the GSkill? Is this memory ok, would you recommend any other cheaper memory? Bearing in mind this is a budget system?

GPU:
Leadtek WinFast PCX6600TD GeForce PCX6600 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-046-LT) = £77

As this is a PCI board, I see the 6600 series as the best value, as I cant get a 9800 and 6800s are out of budget. Question here is, how much difference will a 6600GT be to a 6600, at the moment its like £40 - £50 more expensive for the GT, I dont consider that cost effective. Im assuming this card will run BF2 to a decent standard? Please feel free to share your thoughts.

PSU:
Enermax Noisetaker 370W EG375AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-EN) = £42

The PSU is another area which has been somewhat confusing? Is that a decent / stable power supply? Bearing in mind this system wont be sporting multiple harddrives or multiple CD Drives, though it may see an upgrade to a slightly more powerful GPU at a later date? Whats all this stuff about power rails?

Case:
Really unsure of the case, would appreciate suggestions of cases with decent amounts of room / air flow. Budget is ~£40 - £50

HD:
Not too fussed about the HD, will be happy with a 80GB 7200rpm sata, so ~£40.

Misc:
Fans - £15
Artic Silver - £5
DVDrw - £35

Total = ~ £510 With cheaper components, any suggestions which would bring the price down would be appreicated, im really trying to get the most bang for my buck and build a decent, stable system at the same time. Sorry for all the questions, just dont want to go into it blind.

Thanks again

[Exergy]

Any suggestions would be much appreciated even if you only know about one of the things I listed :s Sorry its such along post

[Smokey21]

Hi mate.

Looking at your suggestions, there all pretty sound to me. Your not really going to get a great PC obviously for that kind of budget. Id maybe look at going cheaper on some other componetns, and get a faster video card, i would spent the extra and get a 6600GT, you can get em for 120quid these days. or you could check out overclockers.co.uk they have very good deals on 9800pro's for around 80-90quid. and will be faster than a 6600 256mb, but then you'd need to get a AGP board obviously, so you could save there

Id go with:

3000+ Venice Retail. if your keeping the price down, no need to get another heatsink, the stock cooler's are pretty good.

MSI Nforce 4

Go for the Gskill, cheaper ram. Basically 1GB is the main thing, the ram timmings, don't matter that much, and if your not overclocking, which i doubt you will, there is no point getting expensive ram, so go for the cheaper sticks.

9800Pro or strech to a 6600GT. if you go with the 9800pro, the MSI Neo 2 is the best board i think.

PSU looks fine, though maybe spend a bit more and get a more powerful one, the PSU is so important, maybe a 420 or so what model, Enermax, is a sound make.

Case, i dunno whatever you want.

[Exergy]

Thanks Will take that into consideration, I doubt I will go with the 9800 as it restricts the upgradability of the machine.

If I take the S939 router and PCI-X, it leaves a whole market to upgrade too, which is why im looking along those lines, I will look into those boards and memory, thanks for the advice.

Im not dead set against overclocking, from what ive been reading the 3000 venice is highly oc'able, obviously im not looking to push no boundaries, but it sounds like an OC to 2.4Ghz will be easily achievable, if theres an changes I should make to achieve this let me know please.

As for the 6600GT, it does look tastier, it apparently outperforms the 9800, its just budget management though, whether I can afford it. Hopefully prices will be forced down by the new 7800.