Building my first system!!!

[junglebass]

Im so sick of my k2@300(my first and still the only box) that I decided to fork out some cash that I dont have and build my first system for all kinds of general use and hardcore gameing!
Im looking for the best bang for the buck here so no latest toys for me....
anyway here is what Im planning to get, what u think?:

CPU:Athlon XP 1700 - $52, I think this is the most banging CPU i can get; im kicking myself for not ordering XP1800 for $51 that was on PW few days ago...........

MB: ABIT KR7A-RAID for around $40-50 on auctions.......
has VIA KT266A / VIA VT8233, I dont know jack about chipsets so, is this a good chipset? Can i get anything significantly better in my price range?
more MB specs: Four 184-pin DIMM sockets support PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM module
SoftMenuIII Technology to set CPU parameters for OCing
Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133( RAID 0 /1/0+1)
no onboard ****.....

RAM: im new to DDR ram, and can only affort 256 at the moment. Whats the diffrance between the DDR ram available now and which 1 should i get? and if u know a good source, please share.

HW I already have for this system:
atx case /w350W
sb live 5.1
agp 32M 3d prophet GeForce 256 video, will up to GF4 later on
24x liteon burner
30gb 7200 udma133 maxtor HD, would like to get 1 more for raid0
DC1206BM-L - Dynatron AMD Approved CPU Fan for XP2100+ MP2000+:Sink Dimensions : 61.9x63x36.2 mm, 5300 rmp ± 10%, Air Flow:24.4C.F.M
will this heatsink/fan be ok if i OC a bit?

thanx for looking, all sugestions welcome.

[Disk11]

Make sure the XP you get is the thoroughbred core. As for DDR memory, I have heard curcial, samsung, and corsair make good memory. If you use the kr7a, you need to get pc2100 (266 mhz) memory, unless you want pc 2700 (333 mhz) for if you overclock really high, but your board will only see it as pc 2100. As for the chipset, people either love it or hate it, but I dont have any VIA boards, so I dont know.

[Giblet Plus!]

Originally posted by Disk11
Make sure the XP you get is the thoroughbred core.

Good luck getting a Tbred xp1700. Just get a palimino, they're cheap and can OC up to about 2200 speeds. What disk11 said about memory is correct.

[Disk11]

The tbred 1700 are available on newegg for like $65 shipped.

[tony_j15]

Be careful with pricewatch. Some of the companies are not reliable. Always check them out on resellerratings (http://www.resellerratings.com) .