hey guys I'm new to the forums but I have about $2000 to spend on building a gaming computer. I posted in the gaming section but was sent here so... So far this is what I want to get:

Coolermaster Stacker Case
Zalman Reserator-1 water cooling
Dell 20.1" widescreen LCD
Creative X-fi platinum sound card
Logitech Z-5500 speakers
Logitech G15 keyboard
Logitech MX1000 mouse
a 48X or 52X CD drive and a second DVD burner drive
a 160 or 200GB hard drive, maybe if I find a cheap 160GB hard drive I could get it for 10,000 rpm
a gig or 2 of RAM at least 667mhz
a Pentium D 3.2 ghz processor
Asus P5ND2 motherboard
then a side panel window for the case and some lights Very Happy
I already have a wireless internet card for it
for a video card I'm gonna wait for the DX10 cards to arrive, and for the processor I might just get the intel dual core instead
for a PS I'm thinking whatever will work, nothing fancy or expensive just the regular one
I found a nice card reader and I have a floppy drive for it...

under the specs of the motherboard I read "10 USB" but does this mean that it can support 10 USB slots or does it actually have 10 slots on the board? I'm thinking the later but if you guys could confirm that it'd be great! I also need to know the main cables that connect all the hardware together. If anyone has any suggestions for changes to the hardware please chime in! Thanks!

Unless you plan to upgrade to the Intel Conroe line in the future, I'd go with AMD for gaming. That has a lot to with personal preference, though in reality, top-market AMD CPUs do outperform the current top-market Intel CPUs.
People will preach "Conroe" at you until your ears fall off ... but the benchmarks are of pre-production prototypes, it's complete naïveté to fully endorse something before it's actually released.

In my thread here, you can see I customized a build for a friend which will definitely be contender for games. And its final price is just over $1,100 (w/o kb, mouse, monitor, headphones).
If it were me, I would've invested in a better CPU and RAM with lower timings. Though he had a limited budget, so I couldn't exactly design him my dream machine.

What size hard-drive do you have now and how much space are you using? You don't necessarily need to tell me, you could save money and get a competitively-priced HDD without an excessive amount of space. Such as the HDD I picked out in that thread: Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7200.9 rpm SATA 3.0Gb/s (now only $64.99) - here.

You'll want to invest in a quality Power Supply. That's one component you don't want to penny-pinch on. Read my post and the other posts in this thread (the link brings you directly to my post): here

If you decide to go with an AM2 system, you'll be able to experience the benefits of DDR2-800; even faster RAM if you poke around.

The motherboard is advertised to support 10 USB slots and that should be correct. However, as you can very well see in the picture ... there are only 4 USB ports visible on the motherboard itself. There are other plugs on your motherboard (detailed in the manual) where you can plug a cord into and enable a USB hub on your tower/case for example. I believe these plugs or ports are called IEEE 1394. In that case though, the motherboard should be able to support well over 10 USB ports.

You'll want conventional IDE cables to plug your drives in with (CD/floppy). And if you go the SATA route (which you should), you'll need Serial ATA (SATA) cables that you'd plug into the motherboard. The retail board should come with all the cables you'll need. Unless you have an unusual amount of optical/floppy drives or are planning to utilize a RAID configuration.

Final words: I'd go with an AM2 system unless you're set on the Conroe route. I'm more familiar with that side of hardware split and I've had personal experience with AMD systems while professional experience with Intel systems (the company I work for uses Intel; I use AMD at home).
Good luck.

Ok there are some changes I would make to this, so here it goes (using Newegg.com as a reference)....

Video Card: First.... you can't wait for the DX10 cards if you're getting this rig soon. The P5ND2-SLI does not have integrated video. Also, if you're not planning on getting 2 cards, an SLI board is pointless. In any case, here's what I would go for: eVGA Geforce 7900GT.

Motherboard: Again, if you're not getting 2 of those 7900GT's I suggested (or some other set of Nvidia cards) then an SLI board isn't worth it. However, if the P5ND2-SLI is the way you want to go, then that's fine.

CPU: Intel Pentium D 930

RAM: OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800

The difference between the 940 and 930 was about -$30 on Newegg, but the difference between DDR2-667 and 800 was only about +$15.

this doesn't make any sense. You said you were going to get a Pentium D 940 which is dual core.

You mentioned a water cooling kit in your list above, but unless you are planning on doing some MAJOR overclocking to this 930 (or 940 if you decide to stick with it) a water cooling kit isn't needed. If you really want some extra cooling for the cpu, grab a Zalman CNPS9500
About the number of USB ports supported by the board, there are 4 in the back, and 3 sets of front panel USB headers on the board, allowing for a total of 10 ports.

Mouse: Logitech G5... $14 cheaper than the MX1000.

Don't skimp out on the power supply. A cheap supply could lead to many problems. If it dies or overloads, it might also decide to take a certain expensive video card or processor with it. Hopefully someone will come along and recommend a good one (power supplys aren't my thing yet, but i'm learning).

For PSU I'd recommend something from Antec, probably 450+. If I'm not mistaken you can get them for between $80-120, and they're very reliable. As far as your motherboards "10 USB" I don't know for sure but that is most likely total supported. Most I've ever seen was 4 back panel USB with support for front panel, etc.

I also have a question for you, any reason why you're getting the MX1000 when you could get the G7 which is also laser, adjustable speeds, but comes with two interchangeable batteries. This way you can have one plugged into the charger and one in the mouse and when the one in the mouse dies you just swap and keep going. On newegg the MX is 56, and the G7 is 60 -ish. I've personally used a G7 and can vouch for their gaming ability, I had no jerkiness or problems, and switching the batteries out takes a few seconds. They slide into the slot on the bottom and are released by way of a small button. Also the G7 doesn't take up two USB slots for the charger and the wireless adapter, the charger comes with a USB slot on the front of it so you can plug the wireless adapter into it and then plug the charger into the computer.

ok you guys have poured me tons of information and I don't know what to do with it all! It's really helpful but before you guys type really long posts and waste your time I want to clear up a few things first:
I meant intel core2duo not dual core such as is currently avialable
second I want to stick with intel chips as I'm more familiar with them
third I want to wait for the DX10 GPU's due to the fact that vista and vista games are supposedly going to run much better on it. (around when will DX10 cards come out?)
I want to stick with the mx1000 as I don't like the idea of having to swap the batteries cause I'm lazy and I'd much rather just throw the mouse on the charging dock! lol
As for HD I currently have a 80 gig of which I'm using maybe half so yeah I might just go with a 160gb 7200rpm drive, very likely the one linked as that price is pretty good for a HD (seagate is good quality right?)
I do want to do some mild overclocking on this PC so I might stick with the reserator especially if I have some extra cash. I want to stick with the 940 and maybe overclock it to 3.6 ghz, if I don't go with the intel core2duo chip
The ram that was linked looked pretty good but I don't think I'll need the high speed (800mhz) I think I'm gonna go for some 533 or 667mhz as I read somewhere that the difference between 667 and 800 is not noticable and same for 533 to 667. Those optical drives linked also look great especially for the price. For a PS I'm going to get one after I buy everything else and see how much money I have left. I'll make sure it costs at least $50 so it won't be a POS. How many watts do you think I'll need? Maybe 500? I won't be doing extreme gaming just FPS and RTS and some racing games. Thanks guys I really appreicate the help!

Fair enough, I simply asked since they were close in price and w/ the G7 you would avoid the nasty instance of low or no battery. This will probably only occur if you game for something like 1 week straight though (as in 24/7, I don't even think I could stay awake that long!).

As far as Seagate 160 drives I have two that have been running strong for about 1.5 years now, I know that's not too long but I would recommend them as they seem pretty solid/reliable. I've had the most trouble with Maxtors personally.

For your Power Supply 450W should probably be a good starting point as long as you stick with a high quality manufacturers (Antec is good imo).

ok...the dx10 gpu's will be lucky to see the light of day early next year. u will be fine with a dx9 gpu for quite some time, so u dont need to worry about that. games wont just switch over to dx10 because of how wide spread dx9 gpus are. it wont be for at least 2 years id say that dx9 chips wont be able to run the high end games anymore. but hey, if u want to wait 6 or 7 months to possilby a year or two, then its ur choice lol

Well, the G80 by nVidia and the R600 by ATI , which are both DX10 cards, are being released this fall. The G80 is actually to be released late summer, possibly July.

~Ibrahim~

yeah I figure if I just get into the habit of putting the mouse on the dock after I'm done using it, I'll be fine and I think I read somewhere that the dock can charge the mouse enough for another either 10 or 24 hours of use in only 20 minutes! Also the MX1000 uses only one USB port as the dock is powered by a 120V outlet and the wireless receiver is in that one USB port. I'm not going to get the computer for a little while so I think it is worth it to wait for the DX10 cards. I think they should come around when vista comes because people will want to play high end vista games. Maybe there won't be too many but I think in time there will be plenty of DX10 GPU's out there.

I know you're gonna get the MX1000 I just wanted to clarify something. I prolly did a crappy job of it earlier but I did try to explain that a cool thing about the G7 was that it still only uses 1 USB port despite the two components. There's a USB slot on the charger that the wireless adapter plugs into and then the charger plugs into the computer, so: adapter>charger>computer. Another possible benefit of this, it sounds like you get with the MX1000 too, is that you can leave the charger somewhere (desktop compie) and take the wireless adapter+mouse with a laptop.

Hopefully all that makes sense, I'm kinda tired today so not thinking too clearly.

A $50 PS is marginal at best for a $2K rig. I agree with the comment about reconsidering the water cooling. Buy a good HSF like the Zalman or Arctic Freezer, etc., take the money saved there and use part of it for a better PS. I like the OCZs and the mushkin but the mushkin is well outside your price range. I've had bad luck with Antecs and mediocre luck with Enermax, Xclio and Coolmax. Maybe look at the mid-range FSP if you don't like OCZ. Don't just worry about watts - compare the total 12V current capacity. If you want to OC and/or get a high current GPU, I'd look for at least 26A and probably consider getting a dual rail PS with 20A on each rail.

I've had good luck, actually, with Antec, but they are sligtly overpriced. How about a Thermaltake? Dual Rails is almost a must with a 2K rig...I would say PC Power and Cooling, but they may be out of your budget.

~Ibrahim~

Forgot to add: Arcitc Cooling makes some *great* coolers, especially their vertical-coolers. Make sure you pick some Zalman thermal paste, early reviews say it knocks off 8C, yes 8C, from that Silver stuff. This is when the machine is on load and overclocked, which is a good chance here. 8C is major with just some better thermal paste. More than major, damn near mind-blowing! 8C is what you get when you switch coolers, or a new case. But with just some paste?!

~Ibrahim~

hmmm 8C seems a little too much, maybe 3 or 4 but definitly not 8! it must be some pretty good thermal paste!