Piecing together a new AMD system

[CujoRbd]

Hi.
I just ordered parts for a new system. My current PC has AMD K6 333 MHz (O/Ced from its original 266) and 48 MB SDRAM. Mobo is of IBM origin, with built-in ATI video and crappy sound. System had 4 GB hd with Win98 on it; hd crapped out about 8 or so months ago, so I bought a newer 40 gig and installed Win2000 cuz I no longer have the Win98 CD.
I've had it since way before TechIMO, back before Scott had to sell SysOpt to Earthweb.

So, as anyone could guess, it's time for me to upgrade. I spent a few days researching what to buy, and below is what I came up with.

Aspire ATX mid-tower with 350W PSU fromNewEgg

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, from NewEgg as well.

ASUS K8V with Via chipset

512MB of Kingston PC3200 DDR, 400 MHz BUS from Outpost.com for $90, thanks to MDS.

ATI Radeon 9600 video card with 256MB DDR 400 MHz mem

Creative Soundblaster Live 24-bit PCI sound card


I already have extra floppy drives, CD-ROM drives, and a hd I bought recently. I currently have 17" CRT monitor as well.
All in all, I have spent under $600, though I intend to get a DVD burner as soon as I can. I'm just glad to be getting a PC that won't lag between every command.
Also, I have really been wanting to mod a case, but I really don't have a whole lot of time. So with the case I got the acrylic cutout already done, and an interesting case design to work with. I know I'm going to add a 120mm fan to the rear with a fan grill atop it. I'll post something in pc mods after I start the mods.

To a question:
Am I missing anything that might be somewhat essential?

I'm just waiting for all the parts to arrive so I can fire it up.

Let me know what you all think.

[Ultima]

Sounds like a nice upgrade from what you have at the moment, but I wonder about some things.

Are you planning on overclocking??

If so, you should not get a Via based board, they can't lock the agp/pci bus.

Are you gonna do light gaming or heavy gaming??

The 9600 is a nice card, and can run games well at the moment, but that'll be over within a year if this keeps up, better bet is the 9800Pro, if ya have the money for it (200 bucks, probably a bit less)

But if you don't intend to overclock and do mild gaming, then you have a very nice rig for that price.

I wouldn't mind having it myself.

[ScottyRolen]

Yeah, u need the ASUS K8N with Nforce3 250GB chipset, its for the 754 system too.. 89 bucks on newegg.. without a chipset that locks the agp/pci bus, they increase when you increase you clock rate, and you can only increase them by a tiny margin before your graphics card will become unstable when running 3D apps...

[proffit]

looks good but why not get hte lot from newegg that way it will all be with you at the same time. here is some thing i found.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...145-479&depa=0