Well, so I've decided to finally break down and build myself a gaming comp, and as of late I've started to buy peice buy peice until the big jump (motherboard, cpu, DDR2 ram). So far I have purchased:
Antec P180 B ($115)
WD Caviar 160 g ($50)
Lite on SATA DVD burner ($50)

and I am deciding to buy:

e6420 C2D ($189)
Open Box: ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ($142)
ASUS EN7100GS512/TD/128M Geforce 7100GS ($42) (just untill I decide to upgrade later)
and at last the memory but I don't know if I should get
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ($101 after MIR)
or
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) ($89)

now I know that this is modest and I don't have a lot of money left and so this is all roughly under $600
Please give me your thoughts and advice, especially about my memory decision. Thank you for your input.

Why would you get an opened box motherboard? Its better when you buy it new and actually never been opened or touched.

As for gaming, that video card won't do get something like the 7900 GS/GT
ATLEAST but people seem to like ATI X1950Pro. I would completely stay away from 7100's for a gaming video card.

RAM depends if you're going to be overclocking massively but if you decide on overclocking a bit then the CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) ($89) would do. If not then go with CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ($101 after MIR). But there are other choice of RAM other there like OCZ, Patriot, A-DATA, G.Skill, GeiL. Just have to do a bit of research on these ones.

Right now I'm using a Corsair 800 MHZ which I got a deal.

I hope this helps.

A 7100 GS isn't going to give you very much gaming power at all. The 7100GS is more for a person who just needs a video card and doesn't game at all. Also, an open box motherboard is just going to come with the motherboard and nothing else (plate for the rear connectors, SATA cables, etc.). If you're not planning on overclocking, the DDR2 675 will be good for your system. You could even go down to DDR2 533.

3rd'ed. What they said.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098

is cheaper than the *cough* corsair *cough* w/o rebates. Yep, no o/c = 533/667mhz ram.

Thanks for the input, the reason for the 7100gs is just be a place holder untill I can afford something better, and for the memory I am thinking about the g.skill I just want to know if they are just as reliable and good quality as cosair. And also about the motherboard, I know that open box is not a great choice but I really want a good quality and cheap (I know its close to impossible) mother board, how about if I were to get the ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI or ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express, which would be a better choice? They both aren't open box.

Or if you all would let me know what would be the best choice for the $100-$160 range for a motherboard

That depends on what you want to do. Do you have plans to use SLI? If so, go with the P5N-E. If not, go with the P5B-E or the Gigabyte DS3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128042).

There are no plans on using SLI, so most likely the P5B-E

Ok, so thanks for all your help, this is what I've decided on what I would like to purchase:

ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 256-P2-N445-LX GeForce 7300GT 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6420 - Retail

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail

Now the reason why I am not upping the videa card is that it would just be a place holder until I can affored a GeForce 8 series Video card. Let me know your thoughts with all this, and so far the cost of these items is $497.97.

Looks good to me. Looks like most everything has been adjusted to a more rounded and very upgradable system. Enjoy building it and let us know how it works out for you.

Not meaning to cause any issues for you, but you might want to change your motherboard again. Why spend the $$$ on a video card if you can just buy a motherboard that has video on it? Consider buying this. Based off the 965, it comes with the Intel x3000 video built in. This will allow you to use the computer while you save up your money again to buy a good video card. You didn't link to the motherboard you wanted (and I'm to lazy right now to look it up...) but I'll bet that this option is cheaper then the motherboard and video card you wanted to buy.

Just something to think about...

If you're really not going to overclock, save yourself the money for the placeholder viedocard and do what number man said. That way, too, if your new 8800 craps out somewhere down the road, you always have the integrated video to fall back on too.

since its a gaming system you really should get a slower cou and better gpu as the graphic card is the most import component for a gaming pc. with your buget you could get something like a 7900gs and a amd64 3800x2 which would perform much better in games than the core 2 duo and 7300gt and not cost much more

Reread his posts. The video card is only temporary. He has already stated

When he saves up the $$$ for the 8 series card, then all he'll need to do is pop it in. He also stated no plans for SLI, I hope he picks a board with onboard video. It should save him some bucks, while still allowing the better video card later on.

Personally i'd go for a DS3 with integrated gpu, at £70 UK that should work out at maybe $120 in the US?. In these days of easy overclocking there is absoloutely no excuse to not buy 667/800MHz ram and change the FSB to 333 with zero hassle.

There is no point in either the 7100GS or 7300GT. The only reason to have a dedicated gpu as poor as those would be for multiple monitors or not having a VGA cable.

When he saves up the $$$ for the 8 series card, then all he'll need to do is pop it in. He also stated no plans for SLI, I hope he picks a board with onboard video. It should save him some bucks, while still allowing the better video card later on.

still trying to play current games on a 7300gt isn't going to be very good, even downgrading the processor to a 6300 and upgrade the gpu to a 7600gt would be worth it since then he would have a system now that can play new games decenty. cpus are just as upgradable as gpus, so if the cpu is really to slow it could be upgraded, but trying to run something like supreme comander on a 7300 isn't going to be much good. if he only plans on playing games from a year ago, then the 7300 could workl for now but there is no way you could get a playable game of oblivion with a 7300 and a $100 cpu has more than enough power for current games