Building on a Budget - Need Input!

[Blitersety]

I'm looking to build a new computer soon, and my budget is 1500-1700 USD.

Here is what I'm looking at right now:

Case - 69.99, 10.00 mail-in rebate, 15.99 shipping
APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case – Retail –

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144151

Graphics Card - 169.99, 15.00 mail-in rebate, 5.64 shipping
EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130056

Hard Drive – 89.99, 5.94 shipping
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003

Optical Drive- 29.99, 5.64 shipping
LG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE Super-Multi DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136108

Power Supply Unit (PSU) – 129.99, 8.48 shipping
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139001

Keyboard/mouse combo – 63.99, 6.94 shipping
Logitech MX3000 967553-0403 2-Tone 104 Normal Keys 30 Function Keys USB + PS/2 RF Wireless Standard Desktop Mouse Included - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126175

Motherboard – 249.99, free shipping
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188009

Processor – 315.00, free shipping
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

TV Tuner – 89.99, 5.64 shipping
Hauppauge 1062 PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-150 MCE Kit Tuner Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116631

RAM – 209.00, 40.00 mail-in rebate, free shipping
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145590

Speakers – 81.99, 20.00 mail-in rebate, 16.99 shipping
Creative Inspire P7800 90 Watts 7.1 Speaker - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836116153

Floppy drive - 6.24, 5.00 shipping
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model FD1231H-302 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821152005


The total for all that is 1506.00 I think, but I still need to choose an OS. Should I go with Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate? I had wanted to get Ultimate, but is it worth it? Also, I still need a screen - I was thinking of getting a widescreen flat pannel, somewhere around 20 inches. If anyone can tell me how I can bring down the price of this computer without compromising much performance, or if any of the parts I chose aren't so great, please tell me. Thanks. Note - I don't plan to overclock, and I still need to get thermal paste.

 

[maroon1]

XFX 7900GS is faster and cheaper after rebate than eVGA 7900GS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150202

 

[PC_Caveman]

you can save about $100 going with a P5B mobo, instead of a 680i board. You can also shave some money by getting a cheaper Power Supply and Hard Drive.

 

[Jrod]

Looks great imo. Unless you need to do remote desktop or encrypt harddrives, I'd get the Home Premium edition. I think those are the only major differences, other than a few little extras.

 

[Sora]

Some parts are questionable for me, the XMS being one of them. I don't trust the XMS line of ram as much anymore since I've seen just about every G.Skill overclock better than them. while still being cheaper.

 

[Nagasama]

xms is great ram.
seems the price is dropping a little, not for long lol.
the 680i is a good board for that cpu, but you can get great results as well with the p5b as well.

 

[Blitersety]

Decided to go with the ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131045

It's 178.99 and still has 2 PCI-E x16 slots -- but doesn't say whether it supports SLI or Crossfire! Does anyone know which one it supports?


Also decided on the
Xion PowerReal XON-600F14T-201 ATX12V V.2.01 600W Power Supply, which is only 109.99, but there's a mail-in rebate of 40.00 if I buy it today, so that's what I'll likely do.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817190007

Any suggestions for a screen?

 

[Sora]

I never said it was bad ram its just that the price is still a bit high for its performance IMO.

Also I believe the P5B Duluxe supports Crossfire, not SLI. That's what I remember hearing