I am building a good machine and need some serious ram and enough video ports. I am building this to be compatible with both windows and linux. I am planning on running lots of virtual servers in. I have choosen the following hardware. I don't know if the heat sink that comes with the cpu will be enough or should I go for a new more power heatsink. I am sure the case will require some fans.

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

Moterboard: ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

Video: (2 qty) ASUS EN8600GT SILENT/HTDP/256M GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T - Retail

CD Burner: ASUS 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe and 14X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model DRW-1814BLT - OEM

DVD ROM: ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T - Retail

Floppy: NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM

Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5000ABYS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

RAM: A-DATA 4GB(4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model ADQVE1B16K - Retail

Case: Linkworld 431-06 C.2222 Black SECC/SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail with 500 watt power supply

Just my two cents' worth, I think 500w will be plenty on the p/s as long as it has separate 12v rails. You'd be better off with a 430W with dual 12v rails @ 18A than you would with any single rail, no matter how high the wattage. (Just because the p/s has the four-pin ATX 12v plug doesn't mean it has two rails, look for "dual rails" in the p/s specs, or an amp rating for rail1 and rail2)

Just wanted to know what you ment by rails. The case I am looking at is at the following link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811164060

I am trying to go over the limit.

No way I would run a Quad Core CPU and Dual 8800 cards on a 430W PSU .. !!!

Go with MrsBytch and upgrade it .. !!

I'm not a Linux fan, but unless you plan to run Windows Vista (bad idea) you wont see more close to 4GB of RAM in Windows XP.

I'd stick with Windows XP Pro and 2GB of quality RAM.

Not planning on running XP. Planning on running 64bit Windows 2003 server as the base os and run virtual server on top. That is why I am including 8GB or ram. May be I should up the watts to 600. Even that looks like killing my budget.

MrsBytch thanks for the advice.. I will up the powersupply to a 600 watts. I will kill the case I was buying and pickup these two which is little more than what I was paying for the case itself. I looked at coolmaster and it is little over my budget... I am already building a monster for personal use and personally it won't be worth going over my budget.

XMan 11-Bay 20+4-Pin ATX Window Case w/480W BLK/SIL 1
PoWork 600W 20+4-pin ATX PSU w/SATA & LEDs Black 1

The PSU is a bad place to save money. Pick your PSU from one of the upper tiers on this list: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=108088

For a good 600w psu, look at the PC P&C silencer610 $119.99 direct from them.
http://www.pcpower.com/products/vi [...] how=S61EPS