This is my first complete build. I’ve tinkered with replacing and upgrading parts and software before.
I mostly want to be able to play UT3 and do some photo editing with Photoshop elements.
I am willing to try some mild overclocking.
I have decided to upgrade to vista instead of buying another XP.
I would like to be able to upgrade to the Penron 45nm quad core in 2 years, and next year upgrade my 19 inch CRT to a 22 inch LCD.
I am getting a corded laser mouse from Amazon (I have a gift certificate) but I haven’t decided which yet, comments are welcome.
I would like comments on this build and to help me decide on the case/power and MOB. I figure I will get another Radeon 3870 (don’t want to wait for the 8800GT to be in stock) down the road and add it in crossfire configuration.
I would like to order this on 12/31/07 due to rebates expiring.
Thanks for all the help

Case & Power
1) Antec Sonata III Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: Sonata III
Item #: N82E16811129024 $149.95 -$35.00 Instant $114.95

2) Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: Nine Hundred
Item #: N82E16811129021 $139.99 -$20.00 Instant $119.99
Rebate -40.00
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: W0100RU
Item #: N82E16817153052 $69.99 -$10.00 Instant $59.99
Rebate -$20.00
Total $119.98

OS
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
Model #: 66I-00788
Item #: N82E16832116204 $111.49

MOB
1) GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-P35-DS3R
Item #: N82E16813128050 $126.99

2) GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-P35-DS3L
Item #: N82E16813128059 $99.99

3) MSI P35 Neo Combo-F LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: P35 Neo Combo-F
Item #: N82E16813130128 $84.99

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6550 - Retail
Model #: BX80557E6550
Item #: N82E16819115030 $174.99 -$5.00 Instant $169.99

RAM
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail
Model #: BL2KIT12864AA804
Item #: N82E16820146565Mail-in Rebate $99.99 -$25.00 Instant $74.99
Rebate -$25.00 $49.99

Video
GECUBE GC-HD3870XTG4-E3R Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #: GC-HD3870XTG4-E3R
Item #: N82E16814241067 $249.99
Rebate $15.00 $234.99
Sound
Have a creative 5.1 surround and speakers

HD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3250410AS
Item #: N82E16822148262 $69.99

DVD Drive
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner included extra White bezel, with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DH-20A3P-08 - Retail
Model #: DH-20A3P-08
Item #: N82E16827106079 $29.99

TOTAL 866.38 – 913.41

Cases and Power; either is fine, if you go with the 900 case get this power supply;
http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX [...] 52646.html
MB- depends if you will be using raid, either way 3 good choices.

DVD drive -go sata, maybe samsung. The rest looks great. Nice rig
Good luck

Agreed, her's what I found
Pioneer 18X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-212DBK - OEM
Model #: DVR-212DBK
Item #: N82E16827129009

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

In Stock
$31.99

Things you should know:
1. All current motherboard upgradability dies at the end of next year when Nehalm is released. Meaning you can't put in a Nehalm in a current motherboard.
2. You can upgrade to a Quad core, later.
3. P35 chipset supports the Penryn CPUs.

That Corsair is an excellent choice and the price at that link can't be beat!
Google it to see the reviews and you'll dump the Thermaltake in a heartbeat.

So here's my final list unless somebody sees something wrong:

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio [...] +selection

Thanks for all the help on this forum

Quick thing.....you have extra thermal paste but no aftermarket cooler. Why are you getting the paste then?
And you have 2 optical drives

1 DVD player is for my kids computer, sorry

I saw several places where it was recommended to remove stock cooler and replace with this thermal paste for better heat transfer.

If you are going to get new paste get a whole new cooler.....anything (most) is better than Intel's stock

If the kid's computer has SATA ports get him a SATA burner.

The Sonata may not be good enough to cool two high-end video cards. The Antec 900 on the other hand is extremely good at that. I'd get the 900 with the Corsair VX PSU chuckm found.

UT3 and Photoshop both benefit from quads. So do video encoding, Supreme Commander, FSX and a few other things. You might as well get a Q6600 now and forget about upgrading the CPU. The best CPU that will ever work on P35 mobos and still cost under $400 will be the Q9450. You can have that one in a month or two. It will be about 10% to 15% faster than the Q6600, in benchmarks. In real life, it will be just like the Q6600 because the hard disk will fail to keep up even with the stock Q6600. Considering that, why spend on the E6550 at all and not have the quad right away and go through the hassle of replacing CPUs?

Cooler - the stock cooler on Intel's recent CPUs is decent. If you don't overclock you might as well use it and save money. I think overclocking is very smart for E6550 but pointless for Q6600. That is, an overclocked Q6600 won't really be better than a stock Q6600, most of the time, unless supported by some RAID0 or Raptor hard disks.

Stay with xp at least for one more year. Why upgrade to vista? in 2009 WIndows Vienna will launch. Theres only about 3 DX 10 titles. Will take about 1 year to develop games fully dx 10 optimize. Dont let Vista Aereo fool you. Performance is the most important. If switching just because areo ****, just download Windows blind and download vista theme.You have another alternative, Dual Boot xp and Vista. With vista you will loose about 10 to 15% game performance. Me and my 15 programming group we dont have to upgrade to vista to play Only Dx 10 games. We found the way to hack DX 10 from vista to integrate to XP and some other modification to play only Vista games into XP. Just like other group of programmers found the way to convert Xp pro to Media center. Soon we will post benchmarks xp Dx 10 vs Vista Dx 10, and a video of Halo 2 running on both OS. xp Dx 10 has a 13% increase over vista. Unfortunately we wont share our final software to the world due to illegal issues. The video will show the world is possible and has been done. It was a six month project. Our Next project is to run pc games in ubuntu without Cedega or other emulator. We will integrate Dx 10 and tons of Windows Xp files Direct X sources to run pc games native on linux. Will take us about 1 year 8 month to accomplish this. Will be open source. Anybody can be part of this creation. Our goal is to switch xp gamers to Linux, if successful done.

OK, I'll stick with XP, and Add
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model HH80562PH0568M - OEM
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

If your adding an Artic 7 you might want to look at this, I think it's just as good and you can't beat the price.

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6835103031

Little nervous about the fit, but it seems like everyone evetually got it in place, and I'm a little over budget so will give it a whirl.

Thanks to all for the help.