PC Build - Need some suggestions and advice

[Smok3y]

This'll be the first PC I've ever built for myself. I'm very concerned with the quality of parts, yet am for the most part unfamiliar with modern parts manufactures.

I could greatly use some advice from people who are more experienced than I am.

(I have a few weeks before I'll actually be able to buy everything, so I have a while to mull over it. Here's what I have so far.)

Motherboard: ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131295
I'm fairly content with this, I've heard good things about the intel chipsets rather than the nVidia nForce ones. I decided against the Pro because I don't believe I'll need to CrossFire in the future, and tend to lean toward nVidia anyways. I'm open to suggestion given good reason

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
Also pretty certain on this, there's the 3.16 and 3.33 but it seems silly to spend the extra just for that, especially if I decide to overclock in the future.

RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227267
From what I've been able to infer OCZ is reputable RAM manufacturer, and that DD2 800 should be just fine despite that the motherboard supports faster. Very open to suggestions regarding this based on price/performance/reliability

GPU: EVGA 512-P3-N975-AR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130380
I'm pretty much out of the loop when it comes to newer GPUs, but this seemd to be the best for price/performance I could find from nVidia. (I'm clueless about ATI's line at this price range) Also very open to suggestions here.

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
This is probably what I'm the most lost about here. Quite a few questions regarding this: Is Corsair any good with their PSUs? Will this PSU power this system sufficiently? Is it good for the price, could I find a similar/better PSU for cheaper? What if I want to upgrade in the future, say a higher end quad core, or a higher end GPU?

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
-or-
Antec Three Hundred http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
Pretty unsure here as well, I wanted to spend less than $100 while still getting a quality case. Which of these would generally be considered better quality if at all? Also unsure if all my components will fit these cases.

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288
This is pretty flexible, I have no personal preference in brand but I want a good sized HDD for the price without sacrificing quality. (Though I guess that generally goes without saying for anyone, eh?) Once again, open to suggestions.

Monitor: Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009127
The monitor I'm currently stuck with is so godawfully godawful... well, let's just assume I don't have one. This seemed to be a really nice monitor for the price based on the specs and reviews. Thoughts? could I get a decent one for cheaper?

Should everything listed be compatible? Something I've overlooked completely? What sort of performance might I expect with this setup? I'm an avid gamer so I'm concerned with gaming performance mostly.

I'll have a budget of about $950, these parts are grazing that very tediously based on current newegg prices. Sorry for being so long winded, but this is important to me! Thanks in advance.

 

[Proximon]

We could downgrade the MB slightly, but you would loose any overclocking you might get with that one.

The Corsair you have chosen is indeed an excellent PSU. It's far more than enough for this system, but will cover a much higher wattage video card in the future. You can pretty much run any single video card on it.

The Antec 300 would be my choice, but the centurion is fine.

The 9800GT is a good choice. The next step up would be an ATI 4850, but that would be +30 or 40 bucks.

 

[aevm]

Good MB, CPU, PSU, RAM.

Check out the RC-690 case (good price at www.buy.com) and the HD 4850 video card. The WD6400AAKS is the best HDD under $100 these days IMO.

If you can spend more for a 22" monitor it's worth it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094

 

[Smok3y]

Thanks guys, good to know everything is mostly in good shape so far.

The 4850 doesn't appear to be much of an upgrade considering the extra price. So I'll probably stick with the 9800GT
Also on video cards, the EVGA 8800GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318 is slightly more expensive their 9800GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130380 (on newegg anyways), is there any particular reason for this? Seems a bit odd to me.

I'll probably go with the Antec 300, since I was on the fence about that. People in general seem to prefer Antec from what I've read anyways. Free shipping too, hadn't noticed that until just now. (also slightly like the look of it better)

Couldn't find the RC-690 on buy.com, the search is a bit wonky there. Quite a bit more expensive on newegg, but still an option if I can find a good deal though.

I'll probably stick with the 19" Acer, an extra $40 for 3 more inches on the screen is a bit out of my budget. If I can find some extra I'll definitely consider it though.

 

[aevm]

Yeah, it's weird, search for RC-690 and it displays CoolerMaster CM 690. Same thing, they're just silly in marketing.

Here it is, $80 including shipping. Case shipping at newegg is usually around $19, btw.
http://www.buy.com/prod/cooler-master-690-without-power-supply/q/loc/101/206177908.html