This will be my first full computer build, so I was hoping for some help.

Price
The biggest factor in my build is price. The price, of my build, is right under $850 and I would like to keep it around there. There is some wiggle room ( IE if the power supply will jeopardize my build ), But I do not want to go much higher than that at all.

Usage
The computer will mostly be used for gaming ( TF2, COD4, L4D, ECT. ). More to the point, it will be a gaming machine. However I will start some of my programming classes next year so the build will need to be able to handle some light compiling. The only other aspects I dabble in are level design ( Source SDK ) and lollygagging in Photoshop.

Overclocking
Overlocking is not a huge deal in this build, and is not what I was going for. That being said, getting better performance out of stock cooling would be nice - or have the option open for later down the road. All in all a nice bonus.

Parts
Motherboard
Open Box: ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

My questions with the open box special is simply: Will it come with everything I need to properly set it up? In addition what risks do I run with the open box? In your experience is it worth it?

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6550

GPU
EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16

Memory
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

Case
RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply

This is one area I am a little concerned with. For the case and the PSU the price seems good, as in they will either skimp on the case or on the PSU. Will this work or should I go ahead and shell out for a better PSU?

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

As far as raid goes, I do not think I am that interested in a RAID0 configuration, unless I will see significant ( Huge ) speed increase in load times ect.

DVD Drive
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound

What I am looking for is: What else do I need to be able to complete the build. More importantly though, where my bottlenecks are going to be. Where can I cut back to improve another area, ect. The kinda things experience teaches. Also if I could get a good why, not necessary, with the suggestions always looking for a good learning opportunity.

Thanks.

One thing to consider....the hard drive, consider 2 smaller drives instead of a larger one. Reason being you can install your OS to one drive, install all your games and what not to your secondary drive. Also, makes it nice for backups. So you can back everything up on the second drive, then if your computer ever crashes, you can just nuke the first drive, reinstall windows, and all your data is still on drive number 2.

Alright thanks, and on that note another quick thing: I will be running Windows XP Home edition.

Try to look at my system plan.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] -guys-this
compare that to yours.

you spelled cruel wrong.
is that cruel enough for you?

I agree with Ohiou on the harddrives, just don't raid, unless you are plaining to have a good back up system. Drop to 3GB of ram, or get xp 64 bit, because you can't use 4GB with the 32 bit Os's (you won't need more then 2GB of ram unless you do a lot of level designing). You can drop in the possessors a little, if you need too, but I find that any thing running in the 2.4 range tends to hold up well with anything thrown at it. In fact 2GB of RAM would probably give you some wiggle room for a better PSU, and give you room to put in more RAM latter.

@OP: The PSU that comes with the case is cr@p. (it's a RaidMax )

I highly recommend you get a quality PSU. See:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=108088
for PSU tier listing. Get a PSU listed in the top tiers there. I recommend a Corsair 550VX/520HX or PP&C 610.

Every thing else looks good .

Open box will not come with any thing. All you will get is the motherboard. You will not get a cables, drivers DVD, I/O plate,etc.

Agreed to Shadow7037 93
and if you buy an open box item in an unknown store, then it is possible that the item, that you wanna buy, is a second hand, other words, not new!!
So beware with open box items.

my thoughts exactly

Ouch.

Ok I made some changes to:

Hard Drives
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM x2

Case
RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

PSU
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W Power Supply

Memory
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AL804

Motherboard
ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Non-Open box this time.

Everything else is not changed. Looking good now?

Thanks for the help so far!

I would probably get an 8800 GT 512MB over that 8800 gts 320MB....

Hrm.

Would a EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 for a $30 price increase over the original EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 be the best spot to spend the last of the wiggle room?

I will, more than likely, be playing at a resolution of 1280 x 1024 - until I upgrade my monitor that is ( which won't be a for a while, a couple of months at least )

I would get the 8800gt