I'm trying to build a next gen gaming system, and after some research have compiled the following core components:

Mobo: Sapphire PURE CrossFire Radeon Xpress 200P CrossFire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-002-SP)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Sapphire.html

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4800CDBOX) (CP-129-AM)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/AMD_64_X2.html

Graf Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-103-SP)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1800_Series.html

Memory: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (MY-057-OC)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Enhanced_Bandwidth_Series.html

Cooler: Zalman CNPS7700-CU Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail (HS-010-ZA)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eoverclockers%2eco%2euk%2facatalog%2fSapphire%2ehtml&WD=hs%2d010%2dza&PN=Online_Catalogue_Zalman_121%2ehtml%23aHS_2d010_2dZA#aHS_2d010_2dZA


... but i need an expert to appraise my choices.

Questions:

1. Are all the bits above compatible?
2. Are there any bad choices, please suggest better/different?
3. The CPU cooler, any idea if it comes with a heat sink, do i just seat it on the mobo?
4. The memory, should i have gone for DDR2? Should I have gone for PC4000? Will either of these work with the Mobo? I've noticed they have higher latencies, is the trade off worth it?
5. Is it next gen? can I play BF2 on max (as my current XP3000 and X800XTPE struggles right now)
6. Does anyone know when the X1800 crossfire master card is coming out?

I know there's a lot here, but I'd really appreciate any feedback.

thanks in advance

Check also the new ASUS A8N32 SLI and the modules made by Corsair, modified for the specific system.

All the above are great, but don't underestimate NVIDIA. There some 7800GTX cards, overclocked from manufacturer, that no ATI can reach them.

(in reply to gmtorrentz)

This is ATI's first crack at a chipset.  It sounds promising, but I'd wait until they matured a little (at least the second generation).  nForce4 is damn solid and as Antonio suggests, the ASUS A8N32 SLI board is a sweet board.  That with some high quality Corsair or GSKILL RAM and if you run single card video, you could go with ATI.

(in reply to gmtorrentz)

Antonio & SithTracy, thanks for your comments, I'm now seriously looking at the SLi solution instead.

One question though, you said there are some nice o/c'd 7800's out there that beat the x1800?

the quickest 7800 i can find is the BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-011-BG)  that is oc'd an additional 30MHz on the core and 50MHz on the memory to 580MHz / 1750MHz.
 
is this the quickest?  it depends how you measure it, but the x1800 runs at 625mhz, although only with 16pipes.
 
Do you know of a quicker one?

(in reply to SithTracy)

Check also ASUS N7800GTX TOP, although the 256Mb RAM or the new XFX with 512Mb RAM.

Personaly when I say quickest I mean as it was reported fro benchmarks and mostly games. The specs are not always the most importand, but actual performance it is.

(in reply to gmtorrentz)

Thanks guys. Just placed my orders for the gear.. a cool £1400!

I ordered:

1) an Athlon Fx55 san diego core cpu
2) 7800 GTX XFX overclocked to 1.73 Ghz/580mHz
3) An Asus A8N32 Sli full 16x sli (as per your suggestion)
4) Corsair 2gb DDR XMS3500LL (as per your suggestion)

It had better rock

(in reply to Antonio)

WOW!!! your system rocks!!!

FX-55 with overclocked 7800GTX? Great, well done and happy playing...

Btw in the future if you have spare money get another one 7800 GTX XFX overclocked to 1.73 Ghz/580mHz and set them as SLI.

(in reply to gmtorrentz)

While I am waiting for these bits to arrive (and I had to get some flown in from the US.. good old ebay)
can someone recommend a good cpu heat sink & fan that will fit an FX55 on the A8N32 board? does anyone know if the board is the right size to accomodate a larger fan like the Zalman flower?
2nd question. If I add another 7800GTX in SLi mode, will the FX55 CPU be a bottleneck?

thanks guys

(in reply to Antonio)