Performance wise, I don't think there's a huge difference outside of heavy benching. That said... it's a new build and DDR3 is the wave of the future so you might find replacement ram pricy a year from now if you stick with DDR2 (price some decent DDR1 sticks to see what I mean.... :) ).
Looks like a fairly solid build to me. I know you're trying to bring it under budget, but if you can squeeze the extra coin out of your wallet (or save it up) you'll have exactly what you're looking for.
++ on the Coolermaster cooler. I'll be putting up some comparison #s on a 720be monday/tuesday.
++ on a slightly better PSU as well. I know that folks sound like a broken record when it comes to PSUs, but you really don't want to scrimp on the one part of your build that will carry you for a couple of years or more.
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