Customising a gaming rig...

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Thanks guys for some great responses. I have taken most of it into consideration and have come up with the following list. Just want to check it for compatibility and make sure i havn't missed anything (i still have to choose a keyboard).

CPU [+308]
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

Motherboard
ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail [+210]
Newegg.com - ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Is Asus' customer service and website as bad as people are making it sound? If so, then

ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail [+180]
Newegg.com - ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

I'm guessing it is just a cheaper option, or are there large differences between the two mobos?

RAM [+247]
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Video Card [+370]
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
Newegg.com - EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

The 8800GTX sounds to me to an overkill, is this similar with the 8800GTS? (for WoW, CSS, and BF2. Oh and how could i forget Diablo (i don't even think it has graphics options lol)

Hard Drive [+85]
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Is there a technical reason for choosing to go with 2x hard drives? or is it just for added space? Also with Cache sizes... is that where you see performance differences in HDs?

Optical Drive [+32]
PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 8X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE interface (ATAPI) 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write - Retail
Newegg.com - PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 8X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE interface (ATAPI) 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write - Retail

Optical Drives are not a big thing for me, as i believe that most games are heading in the way of 'install once' and play off your computer. And i won't be doing alot of copying... I know its only $30 but there isn't much use for a 2nd drive, but if i do, it will be a: [+30]

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

Power Supply [+140]
HIPER HPU-4M730-SS EPS12V v2.91 730W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail
Newegg.com - HIPER HPU-4M730-SS EPS12V v2.91 730W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail

I guess they all do the same job... so if there is anything that distinguishes power supply's could i please know? (i will happily read forums / links, i just can't find them)

Case [+130]
Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Newegg.com - Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Speakers [Already owned]
Sony noise cancelling headphones, MDR-NC50

Guess im just a headphone kinda kid

Monitor
Never really thought about the monitor, the only regret i have with widescreen is trying to find mods / skins / UIs for my games (built this regret from using my laptop). The BenQ is a very nice monitor (i like the thin black trim around it), however it is probably to "big" for me, (i know how retarded that sounds) i was probably thinking around 19" (wide or normal)

Mouse [+25]
Logitech MX310 930928-0403 Black&White 6 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB + PS/2 Wired Optical Mouse - Retail
Newegg.com - Logitech MX310 930928-0403 Black&White 6 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB + PS/2 Wired Optical Mouse - Retail

Don't know why, but this is just a great mouse.

Keyboard
I am a big fan of simple keyboards, + with my uses of wireless, never again (when the battery runs out, the worst). I think it would be cool to find a backlit one, but not essential. Any ideas?

Operating System [+280]
I guess this arises the question XP vs. Vista, its a personal thing but i believe that i will probably stay with XP. All my mates rave about Vista but i have a hunch that it would slow down performance through uneeded running processes. (just a hunch). Plus, with my long use of XP i have come quite attached to tweaking its settings for speed, something i'm not eager to relearn with Vista.

Microsoft Windows XP Professional with SP2 - Retail
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows XP Professional with SP2 - Retail

I have to go pro, as i cannot stand HOME! its like, start > run > calc... "Cannot find calc..." OMG GO HOME

WIFI

I forgot to mention, i will most likely need some form of WIFI card so i can connect to my network, sadly i have no earthenet plug near my room :(
 
Motherboard
ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail [+210]
Newegg.com - ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Is Asus' customer service and website as bad as people are making it sound? If so, then

ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail [+180]
Newegg.com - ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

I'm guessing it is just a cheaper option, or are there large differences between the two mobos?

Well the P5B uses an Intel 965P chipset while the P5W uses an Intel 975x. The 975x is negligibly faster in most things, also that particular mobo you chose has built in WiFi which seems to be something you want.

As for Asus customer service...I can't comment as I just bought my first Asus product the other day (P5B Deluxe)...although I can say I have my doubts as to whether the service will be a problem to you.

Video Card [+370]
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
Newegg.com - EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

The 8800GTX sounds to me to an overkill, is this similar with the 8800GTS? (for WoW, CSS, and BF2. Oh and how could i forget Diablo (i don't even think it has graphics options lol)

If you are absolutely sure those are the only games you will be playing then yes, the 8800GTS is overkill. For those games I recommend: (in order of worst to best, worst still being pretty good)

1) ATI X1950Pro IceQ3 Turbo
Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H195PRQT256DDN-R Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 IceQ3 Turbo HDCP Video Card - Retail

2) ATI X1950XT
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 VIVO HDCP Video Card - Retail

3) Evga 8800GTS 320mb (same as the other 8800GTS but with 1/2 the vid memory, just fine for a 19'' monitor)
Newegg.com - EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

Hard Drive [+85]
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Is there a technical reason for choosing to go with 2x hard drives? or is it just for added space? Also with Cache sizes... is that where you see performance differences in HDs?

2 Hard drives can be handy, 1 for the operating system and 1 for storage...but it's far from necessary and I think you'll do fine with a single 320gb...and yeah larger cache usually equates to a faster hard drive...the seagate 7200.10 is an excellent hard drive, very reliable and fast.

Optical Drive [+32]
PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 8X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE interface (ATAPI) 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write - Retail
Newegg.com - PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 8X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE interface (ATAPI) 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write - Retail

Optical Drives are not a big thing for me, as i believe that most games are heading in the way of 'install once' and play off your computer. And i won't be doing alot of copying...

Honestly I don't know why people choose 2 optical drives, unless you're going to be making duplicate DVD's all the time or something there's no need to have two of them.

Power Supply [+140]
HIPER HPU-4M730-SS EPS12V v2.91 730W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail
Newegg.com - HIPER HPU-4M730-SS EPS12V v2.91 730W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail

I guess they all do the same job... so if there is anything that distinguishes power supply's could i please know? (i will happily read forums / links, i just can't find them)

Nope this is a common misconception. The PSU is one of the most vital components of your computer...a cheap PSU can possibly make the computer unstable and certainly unreliable...if the PSU blows up then it can fry other components...not good.

That being said, the Hiper 730w isn't a bad one...but there are better. The Corsair 620w is really one of the best you can buy, it has incredibly stable voltage rails (important, extremely important if you are overclocking) and is extremely reliable...it's rated at 620w which is plenty...and it's even underrated...this PSU was shown to be able to handle a quad core CPU and two 8800GTX's in SLI...which is pretty impressive.

Monitor
Never really thought about the monitor, the only regret i have with widescreen is trying to find mods / skins / UIs for my games (built this regret from using my laptop). The BenQ is a very nice monitor (i like the thin black trim around it), however it is probably to "big" for me, (i know how retarded that sounds) i was probably thinking around 19" (wide or normal)

Nope I understand, I only wanted a 19'' as well. Anyway this is an excellent one for the money:

WidescreenHanns·G HW-191APB Black 19" 5ms
Newegg.com - Hanns·G HW-191APB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 Built in Speakers - Retail

StandardHanns·G JC-199DPB Black 19" 8ms
Newegg.com - Hanns·G JC-199DPB Black 19" 8ms DVI LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 700:1 Built in Speakers - Retail

Keyboard
I am a big fan of simple keyboards, + with my uses of wireless, never again (when the battery runs out, the worst). I think it would be cool to find a backlit one, but not essential. Any ideas?

Just go on newegg and browse the keyboard section til you find one you like. Personally i have a logitech G15 which is pretty cool as it has glowing letters and a LCD screen..it's pretty expensive though.

Operating System [+280]
I guess this arises the question XP vs. Vista, its a personal thing but i believe that i will probably stay with XP. All my mates rave about Vista but i have a hunch that it would slow down performance through uneeded running processes. (just a hunch). Plus, with my long use of XP i have come quite attached to tweaking its settings for speed, something i'm not eager to relearn with Vista.

Microsoft Windows XP Professional with SP2 - Retail
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows XP Professional with SP2 - Retail

I have to go pro, as i cannot stand HOME! its like, start > run > calc... "Cannot find calc..." OMG GO HOME

Vista does slow down performance but if you build the above computer I highly doubt you'll notice anything. As long as you have 2gb memory, a decent graphics card, and a decent processor it will be pretty snappy.

But suit yourself, this is really personal preference.

WIFI

I forgot to mention, i will most likely need some form of WIFI card so i can connect to my network, sadly i have no earthenet plug near my room :(

If you get the Asus motherboard with the 975x chipset it will come with wifi so you don't have to worry about this....
 
Also one other thing you want to consider is aftermarket cooling. You haven't stated whether or not you plan to overclock the system, but if you do the cooling is important.

Something like this with your choice of 120mm fan is extremely good:
Newegg.com - Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink - Retail

Or there's the Tuniq Tower which is very popular as well:
Newegg.com - Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink - Retail

Or you can always use the stock cooler, but don't expect to get a crazy overclock on the processor and it is also quite loud.

If you do go with aftermarket cooling you will also need a tube of thermal paste:
Newegg.com - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
 
Thanks gurusan and sora for your great help, along with everybody else here at the Tech Forums.

This is a simplified version that is very close to my final product.
CPU [+$308]: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
MOBO [+$146]: ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel
RAM [+$180]: G.SKILL 2GB (PC2 6400)
GPU [+$370]: EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
HD [+$85]: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB
Opt Drive [+32]: PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R ....
PSU [+$129]: CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V 520W Power Supply
CASE [+$50]: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
MONITOR [+160]: Hanns•G HW-191APB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen
Sound Card [+$80]: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

Subtotal: $1565
Which is a great price, leaving me with plenty of money to spend on games :)

Are there any guides on installing those sort of heatsinks? could you possibly throw a link my way (would be much appreciated)

Thanks again for all your help
 
Thanks gurusan and sora for your great help, along with everybody else here at the Tech Forums.

This is a simplified version that is very close to my final product.
CPU [+$308]: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
MOBO [+$146]: ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel
RAM [+$180]: G.SKILL 2GB (PC2 6400)
GPU [+$370]: EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
HD [+$85]: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB
Opt Drive [+32]: PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R ....
PSU [+$129]: CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V 520W Power Supply
CASE [+$50]: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
MONITOR [+160]: Hanns•G HW-191APB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen
Sound Card [+$80]: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

Subtotal: $1565
Which is a great price, leaving me with plenty of money to spend on games :)

Are there any guides on installing those sort of heatsinks? could you possibly throw a link my way (would be much appreciated)

Thanks again for all your help

The heatsinks will come with their own instructions which aren't really even needed most of the time as it's pretty self explanatory. For applying the thermal paste go to Arctic Silver Incorporated - Arctic Silver 5 and you'll see how to put it on.

Also I see you didn't select the Asus P5WH so you will need a wireless card. I don't know too much about adapters but I have a Belkin Wireless G PCI adapter (model F5D7001) and it works fine for me. I chose it because it is supported by Vista 64 bit.

Anyway that build looks like a great one...only thing I might reconsider is the case...the Coolermaster Centurion is pretty good but you might want something that has better airflow.

Something with a 120mm front fan and a 120mm rear fan at least...like the thermaltake soprano
 
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