Hello all, I am going to be building up a new pc soon specifically for gaming and wanted some advice before I buy. My basic idea behind this system is to get the best parts i can that aren't at the very top of the performance spectrum, this way I can get a (hopefully) killer rig and still stay out of the red. Here is what I've come up with as a build so far:

- Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775
- CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
- BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOCE GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI
- Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply
- Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 (I have other HD's for storage)

As I will be using this exclusively for gaming, I was hoping to get some input as to where this system could use some improvement or where it may be bottlenecking. The other thing I was looking at was one of the ASUS P5K WIFI-AP LGA 775 series mobos. I don't plan on going SLI initially and I don't believe these support SLI, but I don't know if its worth getting the 1066 ram and risk not being able to get 2 gpu's later if I want to upgrade. Any thoughts/suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'm interested to know if anyone has thoughts on the Striker's sound. I don't really need top-notch quality since my speakers are pretty basic and I can't setup surround sound in my room.

Since this is my first time posting, I would really appreciate any ideas people are willing to throw at me. I just didn't want to spend all the money only to find out later that I could have made my system better. Thanks, and I appologize for any noobedness.

Get a P5N32-E SLI or P5N32-E SLI Plus, save $100, still have the SLI option.

There are lots of other types of DDR2-800 you could get for less money, just pick from the approved list of the mobo.

The CPU is fine, but I suspect a Q6600 will beat it in Crysis and other games that know how to use quads.

Nice GPU. I have a BFG myself and it's great. On the other hand, eVGA has step-up program and it may be very useful considering there's going to be a new generation from nVidia around November.

The PSU is great, but you could get an OCZ GameXStream 700W cheaper and it's still good.

Will you overclock? Add a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme.

I don't like Raptors because of the noise, but I hear they do make a difference in Oblivion, for example.

1) Wait and get an X38 Motherboard. They should be available next week. They will support PCIE-2.0 Cards. That would remove the need for SLI in the future which I never like as much as one good card.

2) Consider the 74gb Raptor - A bit faster and not quite as expensive. If you don't need the space ,this would work well.

3) E6850 is a waste. You can easily clock the E6750 as high.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Basically to build a system I look at all of the TH charts and then check out the prices on newegg and see whats the best stuff I can afford to get. My budget right now is about $2000 and with the stuff I've listed I'm still under $1850 so I have a little room to play with. CPU's were something I was wondering about. As far I know nothing out there really makes use of the quad cores, so it just seemed overkill to get one unless most games that will come out in the future will take full advantage of them. Also, I was not planning on OCing, but I had thought about it. If I am going to OC, would it not be worth it to get the E6850 as a base and OC that for max performance? or do the E6750's OC a lot better? Also, I don't know anything about the new X38 mobos or the PCIE 2.0 cards, any links or info on those would be great. Another idea I was playing with was getting 4G of ram, any thoughts? As far as the HD goes, I was under the impression that running my OS and games on a faster HD would increase the performance and since I am planning on getting A LOT of games I figured the extra $35 would be worth the 150G. Thanks again for the help.

I personally dont like the Strikers. I think they are VERY overrated!

I would throw in another gig of ram since you have the extra money to spend. Also I have get a kick butt CPU cooler.

Supreme Commander, Flight Simulator, Crysis and Hellgate London do or will use quad cores. Game engines under development these days will do so too, which means a lot of future games will do it. If you intend to keep this CPU more than a year or two it's worth getting a quad. Also, if you play a game and the PC does things in the background (downloads, video/audio compressing, whatever) more cores help. For a short term CPU, E6750 is best bang for the buck IMO.

I have 4 GB of RAM but never used more than 1 so far AFAIK. You'll be fine with 2 GB for now.

Yes, a faster HD helps. Maybe get two drives in RAID 0. When I compress audio my Q66600 works at 60% because the hard disk can't keep up with it. Same for video, I get 80% only.

X38 and PCI-E 2.0 aren't out yet. I'm not that excited about them anyway, from what I've read.

Power supply reviews for:
Thermaltake 750W (similar to the 700w): http://jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=17

OCZ GameXStream 700W: http://jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=35

So after a little more thought I am considering the MSI P35 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard. The reviews looked good and it was much cheaper than the Striker. My other option is the ASUS P5K PREMIUM/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? The Striker is still an option but I don't think I will have the need for SLI before I build another new computer which I hope to do in 1-2 years. This is another reason I think I will stick with a dual and not go quad yet or make the jump to the x38 stuff. Also I was wondering if there was a noticeable difference between DDR2 800 and 1066?

If you need features like FireWire or WiFi, Asus makes some good but expensive boards based on P35 that would be fine. If you don't ned them I'd suggest a GA-P35-DS3L or GA-P35-DS3R. (The DS3R is $30 more but allows RAID and mor ethan 4 SATA devices).

You don't intend to OC a lot, so the DDR2-1066 is overkill IMO. 800 is fine.

For 1 or 2 years definitely go dual-core. E6750 is the best value for the money. E6850 brings 10% more speed at 30% more cost (or whatever, I'm not that good at math at the end of the day).

Is it worth it to get a mobo with a built-in dual lan port like in the ASUS P5K PREMIUM?

Do you go to LAN parties..........?

The E6850 has a 1333 FSB, the P-35 chipset supports 1333 FSB; but were gonna bottle-neck it with 800MHz RAM.....ok, fine.

LAN parties?...Haven't in a while and don't think I will too much in the future. As for the RAM, you think it's worth the extra $$ to get 1066? If there will be a noticeable difference then it would probably be worth it to me. Any other bottle-necks that you see?

I look at it like this, " a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link".

So this is what I'm looking at for a semi-final build setup:

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
MSI P35 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6850
BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOCE GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Thermaltake W0116RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 750W Power Supply
CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-8500C5D
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Does this look like a solid build with no major bottle-necks? If you think I can do better on anything please let me know - this is what I am leaning towards but I am still open to suggestions.