I'm building a new system any and all suggestions and reviews and experiences of products will be appreciated.
Mobo
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4
CPU
???probably intel quad-core or very fast duo???
gfx card
nvidia 8800GTS (G92)
probably http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150261
CD/DVD writer
???needs to be able to read/write dual-layer DVDs (preferably with lightscribe)???
HDD
must be 7,200 rpm or faster, SATA 3.0gb/s at least 500gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148295 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148294
memory
???must be DDR2. at least 667mhz preferably 800mhz.???
PSU
???around 500-700W i guess (not really going to SLi might CF later)???
case
?????large enough to fit everything i guess?????
OS
vista 32 or 64
monitor
???any 19' to 24' LCD???

ALL SUGGESTIONS AND REVIEWS ARE WELCOME!!!!

get Quad core. (Q6600?)

RAM should be DDR2 800

PSU...yeah 500+ W all would work..just get a good brand

Case get an Antec 900, 180, or 182...those are at decent prices.

I think 22 inch Monitor is the sweet spot.

CPU: For 2+ years, q6600 for best bang for the buck, or q9450 for better performance at higher cost. E8400 for less than 2 years.

Video card: Get this identical 8800gts, $169.99 after MIR, compared to your $239.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814134037

HDD: If you don't mind spending more, get the 1TB version. Its $ per gb ratio is about the same as one of your choices, and better than your other choice. The 1TB version is faster, and the larger size won't look obsolete as quickly.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148274

Ram: Any cheap 800 ddr2 will do fine. I use this model with the same motherboard you use and q6600, 4/3/3/12 timing at 800, or 6/6/6/18 timing at 1066.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820144216

PSU: 500watt will do fine. 700watt if you want more headroom. Beyond 700 is mostly useless.

Case: any mid tower will do. Ideally, one with mesh front or top for good air flow.

OS: If you are going to buy one, get 64 bit Vista. There's no reason to get anything else if you're going to pay for it. If you have old copy of 32bit XP that you don't have to pay more for, it's still good, might as well use it.

Happy building.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-19115017
seems to be a good quad, i might even get the 2.66 ghz quad(what was that called again)

http://www.antec.com/us/productDet [...] odID=27650 is this a good PSU? any good PSU manufactures?
any other PSU recs?

do you have a non-extream gamer case? need a good large case but i dont need a huge case, temp and cooling probably wont be problems.

probably gonna use a 20-22" monitor, my HP 19" has always served me well.
do you have a good sub 320$ 22"?
im kinda on a budget so a sub 300$ will be better.

the 1tb sound good but even my 400gb HDD looks unchallenged so 1tb might be an overkill since im in a budget and stuff, definatly gonna check it out.

as for the cheaper GTS i'll think about it. try to find some reviews n stuff

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136206 seems to be a good 1tb

is their a significant difference between the core 2 quad and a core 2 quad with viiv?

No, that's not a good 1tb drive, the average seeking time, average latency are both longer. And it use 16mb cache instead of 32. In other words, it's slower, for a higher cost. Makes no sense. The other drive I linked have 5 year warranty.

Not sure what viiv is.

Q6600 is a good quad. Best bang for the buck. Q9450 perform better, at a higher cost. Skip q9300. It's more expensive, perform the same as q6600 per ghz, use smaller 2x3mb l2 cache, and the low 7.5x multiplier is not good for overclocking.

Psu looks solid.

sry didnt see that link
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] etailspecs
seems to be a good case
and kinda getting stumped on montiors

i've got the
mem, HDD, gfx card, case, mobo, CPU, and just about every thing else nailed down.
mem http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-20231084
HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148274
mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-13128336
OS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-32116202
gfx card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814134037
CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-19115017
or http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] GOOGLEBASE


PSU is this a good one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-17371007

i have no idea which DVD drive or montior to buy

Get 4gb 2x2 sticks instead of 2x1 sticks, and save 2 slots for possible future upgrade. And you need more than 2gb. All versions of vista hogs 1+gb, and Crysis hogs 2+gb by itself after a few hours of gameplay. Most other new games can use 1+gb ram. Ram is cheap, page file off hdd is slow, don't skimp on ram.

That Vista is 32bit, if you're buying a new copy, get 64bit.

For cpu, q6600 and q6700 is identical, except for q6700's 10x multiplier vs q6600's 9x. This means q6700 will overclock higher on old motherboards. Your x48 isn't a bottleneck, and the cheaper q6600 will do just as well. If you have extra cash, consider q9450 as upgrade option instead of q6700.

Psu should be enough, but 2x17amps on 12v rails is rather weak, for that wattage and price. If I remember correctly, a lot of people say "earthwatt" is good brand. But the specs are still weak though. Ideally, get something higher.
This is what I use, for comparasion purposes. 850watts and 4x20amps. They say it's bad brand, but user reviews on newegg are excellent, and it's extremely cheap for 850watt.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817101029

dam good PSU
would i run into any major compatibly probs with a 64-bit?
im trying to squeeze the Q9450 in.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 32-116-488
good 64bit, what does OEM mean and if i install this i will be able to use windows vista 64 right?

There are no compaibility problems with Vista 64bit. Don't worry about it. Not sure what difference oem makes for Windows. There shouldn't be anything major.

thanks
PS do you have any recs for a DVD drive

They tend to be about the same. A typical SATA dvd writer cost around $30, and $40 with lightscribe. Blue Ray is still falling in price, wait a while longer for a good deal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148298
this seems to be about the same as the 1tb one you showed me minus the 250gb

http://www.provantage.com/antec-ea650~7ANTS031.htm gonna get this PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820211188 2x2gb the latency seems a little high for DDR2-800 but the reviews are good.