Planned system upgrade- please appraise/ advise

[billis]

I've been planning to upgrade my nearly 4 year old system for about a year now (This site has been a very useful information source).

I have provisionally decided on the following components:
Lian-Li PC-7 case
Enermax EG365AX-VE FMA (350W) or 465AX-VE FMA (450W) PSU
Intel P4 2.40B 533
2x256MB Samsung PC1066 RDRAM
Asus P4T533-C motherboard
Western Digital 80GB Caviar special edition WD800JB
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Creative Audigy Player
Windows XP Home Edition

I'll keep these from my current system:
Iiyama visionmaster pro 19" monitor
Lite-On CDRW 40x12x48
DVD ROM
USB modem, USB scanner (both powered by USB ports)
USB Zip drive
Intellimouse Explorer
keyboard

It's mainly to be used for games, especially Quake 3 and newer similar games. Also DVD/ DivX decoding, possibly some video encoding as well. I want to be able to run all current and near future games extremely well. (I currently have Matrox's G400 slideshow-generating card).

Queries:
(1) - Does this system look good? It's going to cost a lot of money so I want it to be as good as possible, and stable as well. My current board- Asus P2B-S- has been very stable. I'm hoping it will last me a couple of years at least. I figure I can upgrade the processor if necessary in a year's time to a 2.8 or faster if it'll take it, and also maybe add more RAM.
I did think of getting the P4T533 but additional RAM is not available for it yet and it seems to perform roughly similar to the P4T533-C as far as I can tell.
(2) - Am I right in thinking that AGP8x would not make that much difference to the performance of the Radeon 9700? Will it make a difference in future games?
(3) - I am uncertain which PSU to get- is 350W sufficient? I won't be overclocking but I may add bits in the future eg another hdd. If I get the 450W one does it cost the same to run ie only uses additional power when needed? It surely can't need more than 450? Also is this a good PSU and a good match for the case? I've looked at the specification on the Enermax website www.enermax.com.tw, but I don't fully understand what all the numbers mean. I've read good things about Antec True Power PSUs, but I can't find anyone who sells them in the UK.

Thanks for any help

 

[Excelsior]

That system will surely be a screamer. Where are you ordering all the stuff from? Newegg? now on to the advice...

That case looks nice, and its a Lian Li, so no problem there.
Id opt for the 450W, just for the benefit of the doubt. These days it never hurts to have a better Power Supply, and often a better one is needed.
Good processor, and the RAM is fine.
Now the motherboard...that'll do just fine (Gigabyte 8IHXP is worth a look too). RDRAM may be phased out in 2 years, but that wont really matter.
Great HD.
Of course the fasest Vid. Card.
Alright Sound Card.
Id go for getting XP Pro, the OEM when you order all of this. it shouldnt cost much.


And yes, that system will run (and fast) any game you throw at it now, and probably most in 2 years. Doom 3, UT 2003, all the good ones.

1) It looks perfectly fine. Itll take up to a 2.8, but the 3.06s will require new Motherboards. If you got a 2.8, you could OC it to 3.150 easy (in the future). and OC you 2.4 to 2.7 now. And do not consider the P4T533, it has had many problems.

2) You are correct, AGP8x doesnt mean much. I doubt it will make a diffference until maybe the next generation of cards.

3)Go ahead and "splurge" with the 450W.

Good luck!