First build (Overwhelming) Please Help.

[Viceras]

Hello everone i'm having one hell of a hard time choosing a motherboard to fit my needs theres so many to choose from its over whelming for us newbs So I resort to asking the patrons of this tech haven to help me choose a board thats right for me.

The build im planning is for gaming i'd also like it to have longevity. I'm not interested in Crossfire or SLI.
Current Config:
CPU: E6400 or E6600.
Mobo: Undecided
GPU: Undecided
Memory: Probably OCZ DDR800 - But gladly take your advice on this
HDD: Sata/Undecided
Case: Thermaltake Armor Jr (Bought)
PSU: iGreen Power 500W (Bought)
LCD: 19" Undecided

As you can see i'm just starting out on my first build and i'm largely undecided, I would very much appreciate your advice and expertise

I have a budget of $1500 - $2500 Longevity and bang for buck are key

 

[f1nal_0men]

You don't need to spend 2500$ to get a good, long-lasting (long as far as computes go anyways) PC.

Asus P5N-E SLI $134.99
This is a great board, and for only $134.99, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better board for the price. This motherboard overclocks with the best of 'em. It has all the features you'd actually use, the only thing is the northbridge and southbridge tend to get a little warm. I recommend picking up a pack of heatsinks and using some thermal adhesive, glue one onto the southbridge, and replace the northbridge cooler with something a little more effective.

Intel Core2Duo E4300 $179.00
Sure, the E6600 is nice, but if your overclocking, it really doesn't matter which chip you go for. There overclocking potential is about the same, but the E6600 almost costs twice as much. If your not overclocking, go with the E6600.

Corsair XMS 2x1024MB DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 $220.00 (-$30.00 MIR)
It's not like OCZ makes bad memory, but I've heard alot of people complaining about it's weak compatibility lately. Besides after a thirty-dollar MIR, your laughing!

eVGA 8800gtx $589.99 (-$30.00 MIR)
Best videocard out right now, plain and simple.
*Your PSU only does 33v max over all the 12v rails. I doubt that PSU will be able to handle this videocard. If you can't return your current PSU for something better, and you don't want to buy a new one, then the 8800gts will probably be your best bet. You also might want to check to see if an 8800gtx can even fit inside your case! I don't know the exact measurement, but from the back panel, if you have 12" of clearance, thats plenty of room.

Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic $92.99
This is a great soundcard, awesome quality in games, especially if your using 5.1!

Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 320GB $94.99 x2
Fast, quiet, fairly large, I don't know exactly what kind of HD space your looking for, but 640GB is a good place to start.

LG DVD burner $28.99
Hmmm... it's a dvd burner.

If you are going to get a new PSU, this guy can power an 8800gtx SLI system, and still have some power leftover, and for only 230$, it's a good deal!

I got some questions for you to help me better tweak this build for your uses:

What games do you play?
Whats that max resolution you can play at?
Will you be upgrading to Vista soon?
What games will you be playing once they get released (crysis, UT3)?
Do you do anything else other than gaming?

 

[Viceras]

Thanks for the quick reply! The case is the same dimensions as its big brother apart from its height so fitting the bigger cards should be ok as for the PSU its at 85%+ efficiency with 500W continuous and an absolute max of 600W so i hope it will work. To answer your questions:

What games do you play? BF2, BF2142 FPS Mostly but looking forward to War when its released later this year!
Whats that max resolution you can play at? All the monitors ive seen so far have a max of 1280 x 1060 I think something like that anyhow
Will you be upgrading to Vista soon? Once all the bugs are sorted out yes.
What games will you be playing once they get released (crysis, UT3)? Not to sure about those titles but im looking forward to assassinscreed
Do you do anything else other than gaming? Surf the net listen to music etc... the usual

Thanks for you help i appreciate it m8!

 

[f1nal_0men]

Thanks for the quick reply!

What games do you play? BF2, BF2142 FPS Mostly but looking forward to War when its released later this year!
Whats that max resolution you can play at? All the monitors ive seen so far have a max of 1280 x 1060 I think something like that anyhow
Will you be upgrading to Vista soon? Once all the bugs are sorted out yes.
What games will you be playing once they get released (crysis, UT3)? Not to sure about those titles but im looking forward to assassinscreed
Do you do anything else other than gaming? Surf the net listen to music etc... the usual

Thanks for you help i appreciate it m8!

Then the build looks pretty solid, once you upgrade to vista, grab another 2x 1GB, Vista can use 4GB of memory. At 1280x1024, the 8800gtx may seem overkill today, but once DX10 games come in full swing, no one can really predict how well/bad it will run. Besides the more power the better.
I was thinking, since you have so much room left in your budget (~1200$ ) why not get a bigger, better monitor? I was thinking something along these lines...

 

[Viceras]

The screen looks great but i live in sweden and our taxes are massive so i probably wont have that much left over after the components you listed but im gonna give it a try and see how much it costs I also added a bit to my post just above yours.

To give you an idea of how much we really do get ripped off the 8800GTX is $874 inc Tax and the 8800GTS is $595 inc tax :roll:

Thanks again for your help

 

[f1nal_0men]

Well if the prices are that high, and your getting a 19" anyways, only get the 8800gts, that way your PSU should work with it too. No need to spend money if you don't want to.

Also, those prices are almost exactly the same as Canadian, so I know how you feel. At the local PC shop, an 8800gtx goes for 749.99 + 13% tax, thats 847$. I realize that Canadian money isn't worth the same as the US dollar, but it's still a high number...