Thoughts before I order these parts for new system build?

[Tragic Comic]

Current machine:

Asus P4C800-Deluxe
Intel Prescott 2.6
1GN PC3200
GeForce 600GT

With the tax return on the way, I'm considering building a new system
as the girlfriends machine totally blows. So, I'm considering an AMD
machine next and here's what's in my cart at the moment:

ABIT AN8 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
Leadtek WinFast PX7800GT Extreme TDH Geforce 7800GT 256MB
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 ADA3700BNBOX
OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 600 (PC 4800)

Questions:

Is there really that big a difference between a 6800GT and a 7800GT?
Do I 'really' need PC4800 mem if I don't plan to overclock?
Would a AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice be better than the 3700+ San Diego?
It seems the 3800+ has less L2 cache but is clocked higher and costs
more money.

Any input is appreciated.


TC

 

[tom]

I'll try to answer to your questions:

1. On paper, the 7800GT is a far superior card to the 6800GT, and most
benchmarks put it between 40 - 80% faster (but I've seen the difference as
high as 120% and as low as 5% on some titles). For most current
applications all this means is that you'll get a few extra frames per second
on high resolutions. If you do a lot of gaming, then this may be worth it,
if you don't then the 6800GT is more than adequate IMHO.
2. Most things I've seen regarding PC4800 memory are to do with the
benefits when overclocking. I would suspect that a PC running PC4800 will
perform better than if it was using PC3200, but by how much I can't tell
you. Sorry.
3. The Venice has SSE3 extensions (which very few applications currently
use) and is reportedly better for overclocking. The San Diego is better
(reportedly) at multi-tasking and for games. I guess it depends on what
you're looking for. You are correct that the Venice has less L2 cache than
the San Diego and costs more, on the plus side it uses a new memory
controller, new stepping and lower voltage. Personally, I'd stick with the
San Diego, but there are probably others who would go for the Venice.

Tom