Yeah get the 3000+ venice, with A8N-E you can overclock very well, my 3000+ A8N-E did 2.475 GHz from 1.8Ghz with 1.4125vcore and on stock cooling, this is the speed of AMD 63 3800+. and ya if your friend can push the budget a little more try to go for 7800GT, this is the best VFM card available...