I just want to thank all the regular posters on this site for helping me make my build decision's.  It's been almost 4 years since my last build.  After relearning all the basics and some advanced stuff, I'll be upgrading in pieces from now on instead of all at once.  Everything will be here Friday the 1st.  If any body can think of stuff I might need or knows of a good site to prepare for the build, let me know.
 
Here's the short list.  I got this around $600, if I get my mail in rebates.  I'll be using stock CPU fan and sink for now but I did order some Arctic 5 paste.  I will be building in the kitchen, as everywhere else is carpeted.  My current HDD is backed up on an external and I have a copy of XP Home.  I also already have a monitor, keyboard, etc.
 
Case: XION Onyx XON-303 Black/Blue Steel ATX Mid Tower
 
MB:   GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 (which btw is on sale, the day after I ordered, for $89.99)
         http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813128059
 
CPU:  Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz.  I will be OCing for the first time thanks to this site.  
 
GPU:  EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB
 
PSU:  Antec earthwatts EA500 ATX12V v2.0 500W Power Supply
 
RAM:  Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB)  800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
 
HDD:  Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
 
So if you have built with this board drop a helpful post please.  Or just wish me luck.  

Looks good.  You won't need the Artic Silver if you're using the stock HSF, come with a thermal pad but good to have around.  Depending on how seriously you're overclocking but want a better HSF but this really depends on how much overclocking you're going to do.  

If your using the stock HSF,  remove the paste on the thermal pad;  and for god sake use that artic silver.    Allendales are very gentle to their factory coolers, so you should get a decent overclock considering your cooling.    The system looks solid, and if you have questions about your motherboard, dont hesitate to ask.  

Could you take a photo of your home cuz I have never seen carpeted cupboards, walls, furnitures...?
 
Hook up the psu with power cord to the wall outlet & switch it to off. Touch it before you handle the parts.

I have the same board so dont freak out everytime you change a bios setting or do a cold boot because it will shutdown and reboot back up on its own,  I believe this is a p35 issue and not just a gigabyte one as I have read that the abit ip35 also does duel boots! Other than that I am running my e6600 487*7 and is orthos stable!

I think that says that everywhere is carpeted except the kitchen.  I could build in the garage but it's 10F out there.  

@duntuatha: That scared the life out me when I first fiddled in my P35 BIOS, I was expecting a nice smooth reboot and suddenly the room fell silent...

 
I wouldn't worry about carpeting, my basement is carpeted and that's where I work on machines.  Wear rubber soled shoes/slippers, touch bare metal, and don't move your feet once you start working with a part

Parts arrived Friday, late afternoon, three hours later I was up and running.  Not bad for my second build and first in over 4 years.  Knock on wood!
 
She's very nice.  I like how she doesn't speak until spoken to.
 
Im off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of OCing.  

It's winter time. Let the hard disk warm up to room temperature before using it. I have broken hard disks by not letting them warm up to room temperature before using them.
Frozen hard disk=failed hard disk.

How is the system working? I plan on doing my first build soon and will probably have almost the exact same config as you. Just wondering how it went/is still doing.
 
Also, I heard that memory comes with the settings at 667MHz and you have to go into the BIOS and changes the frequency and voltage?
 
Did you encounter that?

^^  Chimera give us a budget and needs and we can easily build you a good rig

 
 
Rig runs great.  No problems going from 1.8 to 2.4GHz with stock fan and sink.  I have not messed with memory frequency or voltage yet.

 
Artic silver is only 5 dollars man...and it makes such a difference

But he doesnt need it with a stock cooler...its just stupid to get it on stock

I did it anyway.  It was to easy not to.  I had already ordered the arctic 5 and I new I would be getting the Freezer 7 Pro, which I did yesterday.
 
I'll run the stock cooler until I figure out the SpeedFan bullshit I've been dealing with.  

Look at the posts I wrote in overclocking....how are you configuring this...it took me 10 minutes, not even

Scrap that gunk off the freezer with an old credit/member card, wipe the base clean with rubbing alcohol (walmart, drugs) & a coffee filter, let dry & apply as5 vertically on the cpu heatspreader.