Okay, I am a computer noob. I have a little above average understanding of computer hardware. I will be using this computer for gaming, and my budget is at about $1,450 because most things have rebates. I'm not looking for the most fancy, but for good performance without having to sell my soul.
So far I know I'll be getting:
Aspire X-Plorer case
XFX 7900GT
500watt PSU
Samsung floppy
Western Digital Caviar 250GB 7200rpm sata 3.0GB/s HD
Viewsonic 19" widescreen LCD
Samsung 16xdvd burner with lightscribe

I would like to have dual-core CPU. I have found an interest in Intel pentium D 940 presler because its cheap. I am also not looking for the best sound, so I thought maybe Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS would be okay. The motherboard is where I am having most trouble. I know nothing about them. I also dont know which RAM to get. I know I want 2 gigs(obviously) but I dont know what kind.
*Important: I know nothing about overclocking or BIOS or any of that!!*

Thank you for your time, and your help!
Mike

Here is what I am getting and have spent some time investigating. http://forumz.tomshardware.com/har [...] 89113.html

Motherboard and memory for $210
CPU for $124
PowerSupply for $80
VidCard for $270

That is about $700, shipping and tax it comes to a tad over 800 a ton less if you live outside of a state where they have stores for whatever place you buy from (no taxes)

CPU can easily be overclocked, especially with that motherboard. A good article of the 4.1ghz was posted. You DONT need to go that high. Im going to get an aftermarket fan and maybe go up to 3.4ghz Depends on temperature.

It is my pref. so I dont mean to leave my opinion, but I prefer a good 4:3 monitor over a 16:9. Most 16:9 are more expensive but im too used to 4:3 and how my hand moves across the screen with the pointer. But I play mostly FPS games and some WOW.

The 1400 you ahve to spend to spend is WAY more than enough. Just be careful on which monitor you buy, look at some of the articles here. A lot of them suck!

I use a samsung syncmaster 930b. I have a little light leakage at the top but I love it. Pretty vibrant and large enough!

Good luck, and dont be afraid to take a few weeks looking up all your stuff.

Don AKA another pc newb

Your are set on getting an Intel Pentium D so there are a few MB chipsets that would work well with that CPU. Choose your manufacturer like ASUS, ABIT, MSI, INTEL, ECS etc. and get one of the following MB chipsets:

Top rated Intel chipset is 975
then 955 down to 945

There is also a recently release Nforce 4 chipset available for socket 775 Intel processors.

The MB's chipset basically controls the performance between the CPU, RAM, Video Card (SLI if you buy an SLI chip MB), etc. etc. Stick with an Intel 975, 955 chipset. ASUS makes premium quality motherboards. There is a lot of nice stuff out there. I'm sure others have an opinion on the subject too.

I think I might go with a ASUS P5LD2 deluxe mobo.
What type of RAM should I get?
I am looking at Mushkin eXtreme performance 2gb 240 ddr2 667(5300): $170 after rebate.

I don't have the time to research the particular models you chose, but you have picked two top quality mfgs. in ASUS and MUSHKIN. I have built several ASUS boards (not the one you chose) and I can tell you the ASUS boards I have built run faster out of the box than say the MSI, DFI, INTEL, and ABIT boards. ABIT makes a nice product out of the box. I have never used MUSHKIN ('spensive), but I would think the company's high Po stuff would run beyond their stated specs as far as RAM speed is concerned. I would have to say you made an excellent choice along these lines. Good luck with your build. I'm having an issue with the case temps on my AMD 4800 X2 right now. I'll probably take this thing down an get a 120 mm fan on there someway. My case is so full. Two video cards, two HD's, Artic 64 Freezer, 4 512 RAM modules, Pinnacle Studio PCI card, tow ZALMAN GPU heatsink fans. I'm like a woman rearranging furniture.

ok, fisrt things first, u dont need a floppy drive, and second, the 7900gt aint all that great for the price, go for the x1800xt 512mb for just about 30-40 more, or get an x1800xt 256mb for about 10-20 less, put it this way, the 7900gt is better with RTS, while the x1800xt is better for FPS games, and it has better eye candy becuase of its 512mb capabilities and that u can do HDR and AA at hte same time (en n00b lnaguaje that means that it will make everything look so much better, such as cars and things like that), for the cpu if u are a hardcore gamer that cares about the last frame, get a single core 4000 id say, if u are not a hardcore gamer like that just wait and get ur pc in one month when amd's drop and get an x2 4400 or conroe, the 4400 supposable will cost 300, its either the x2 4400 or the x2 4600 that will cost 300, i dont remeber which one, but both are great!

p.s AMD is still better than intel, the pentium D's are inferior to the X2's , now conroe is another deal, conroe may be better than AMD and beat the crap out of em!

I know AMD is better than Intel, but AMD dual-core CPUs are so much more expensive. I looked into the x1800xt, and it smoked the 7900gt in oblivion. right now I have a radeon x300 128mb, so just about anything is better.
*both the x1800xt and 7900gt are same price $299.99
The X1800XT has 625core and 1500memory with 512mb and 16pipelines.
The 7900gt has 520core and 1500memory with 256mb and 24 pipelines.
This is a real bind. does 8 pipelines make a difference in some games, or will the 625core and 512mb give more of a benefeit?
also, if youve never overclocked your system before or built one, how hard is it to overclock,setup BIOS, etc.

defintely have 2 gigs of PC4600. but make sure it isnt overkill to the rest of your system, and a floppy drive?! throw it away.