Please review build decision -- approx $850

Hi all, thanks for looking. So my old rig is as follows:

P4 2.4 533 FSB/2GB DDR400/X800GT

I am really wanting to be able to play the following games better:

Flight Sim 2004/Nascar Racing 2003/FEAR/HL2/CSS/and (don't flame) MS train sim

So I have been thinking seriously hard about this and so far I have come up with the following:

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail ($50)

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail ($90)

EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail ($170)

Antec earthwatts EA500 ATX12V v2.0 500W Power Supply - Retail ($65)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750 - Retail
($190) *ouch*

Patriot Viper 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS24G6400LLK - Retail ($95)

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
($81)

Logitech 967740-0403 Black USB Standard Internet 350 USB Keyboard - OEM
($10)

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S - Retail
($30)

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
($100)

It comes to $880, is there anything that you all would swap out based on your personal preference? Also do any of you see where I can improve performance anywhere for about the same $ amount.

My ultimate goal is to make this computer last many years, to the tune of 5 or more... but I have an old Athlon 939 computer that will be getting replaced in a year or 2 so "future proofing" is not as high on my priority list as my budget, but it is definately a consideration!

Thank you all for your input.

Umich is right about the PSU consideration. Go with the vx550. Also, do you mind overcloking a little bit?
Go with this memory,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231122

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and swapped out the PSU for the Corsair

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

I'm considering switching cases though. I have heard many people as of recent complaining of shorting with the CM centurion series cases... Hmm.

Go for 32-bit OS.

/wrists

Yes I agree, one the thing I regret the most about the build I did about 4 months ago was not going with a 64 bit OS.

i am looking at the CM 590 case, it seems nice for the price.

chuckm... that does not fit my budget, the E6750 is almost $100 less.

I agree with everyone about the PSU, I just recently put that corsair in for another build I did for a friend and I was extremely pleased. Where do you live and do you have a microcenter in the area? If you do then you can get some stuff at a good price. I tell you you can get vista basic for 50 bucks there oem. Great deal! Also they have a quad for 199. If you are going to overclock go quad over e6750, however if you are using the stock Heatsink fan then stick with the e6750. Now, on that note they also have the e8400 for 199 which is better than the rest of the online retailers.

There is a stock speed increase over the e6750 of almost 400 mhz and about 7% performance increase watt for watt. Graphics choice will work even though I am partial to ATI (got to help AMD someone, otherwise these cheap builds will be a thing of the past). Make sure that the ram you get has 4-4-4-12 timings. No reason for it not to have those timings for a cheap price. Go with whatever case has 120 mm fans. THat way if you get ballsy you can OC that machine. I love the cm690 and I got her for 50 bucks when I did. My build is acrylic but for everyone else I did premanu cases.

Now, don't waste your time with 64 bit os. You may experience incompatibility with some games and annoying problems. Don't play with it, you don't need it with that system. You will really hate yourself when you have problems and can't play some of your games. Big pain in the butt.

Unfortunately the closest microcenter to me is 5 hours away! I still have a little time to decide. I plan to order all these parts around the 10th of May so they will have just arrived at the house when I get back in the US from being overseas.

Go with the Intel. I agree that the AM2 socket is more future proof than the LGA775. But if the manufacture do not allow BIOS updates you are sunk. And BIOSTAR is not the best of brands. Had BIOSTAR and MSI boards die on me and since then I have switched to ASUS and Gigabyte and still don't have a dead Gigabyte/ASUS board. If you find the E6750 more expensive get a E2180 and OC it. The OCed E2180 WILL beat the X2 any day. Btw, sound card DO NOT have an high effect on framerates, it would reduce your FPS only about .5fps.

I would go with an E8400/E3110 if you can get your hands on one, I got my E3110 for like 215$ + ship. + tx wich isn't much more than your E6750. It has more cache and better manufacturing process (45 nm) so it will produce less heat and let you overclock it more (even if only in a year to prolong the system's life).

If you plan on buying at NewEgg, go with OCZ 4GB DDR2-800, you can save a bit more, there is a 25$ MIR until monday and a 5$ combo discount with the DS3L. There is also a E6750+Vista combo with a 20$ discount. My total on NewEgg is 844.16$ - 45$ MIR = 800$

chuckm, ya I already swapped it out in my wish list

Also, for everyone. I'm going to swap some things around and throw on a GA-P35 and either an E21xx or an E4xxx and see what shakes up. I can't do this till tomorrow though as I won't be near a computer today at work and won't be back in the US for another 6 weeks or so.