I just made my first build. heres the specs
500 watt power supply
amd athlon 5000 cpu
2x 1 GB ddr2 ram
asus m2a-vm motherboard
geforce 8800 gts
320 GB seagate sata harddrive
xp pro
the problem is that when the 8800 gts is in the pci-e slot i get no display on my monitor. i downloaded the correct driver from nvidia but when i try to install, says i can't because there isnt the right hardware (well no **** graphics card isnt in). i assume i need the graphic card in to install drivers, but i cant get into windows to install drivers because i get no display when the card is in. my monitor is connected to the vga on the motherboard because it doesn't have dvi so cant connect directly to graphics card, is this the problem? is there vga to dvi adapter i can get so that i can connect the monitor directly to the card? or do i have to get a new monitor?

Yes you can get a dvi to vga adaptor for around $10 any computer/electronics store

Let me get this straight, you have only vga on your monitor but only DVI on your 8800gts? If this is the case, you need to use a dvi to vga adapter. Connecting the monitor to the vga port on your motherboard will not produce graphics from the 8800. Generally with a motherboard that has onboard video, you can chose to enable or disable the onboard side of it in the bios. Your video card could/should have come with a vga to dvi adapter, in which case just use that on the end of the cable to hook up to your monitor. That should correct the problem. If not, you will need to buy an adapter and then I would suggest disabling the onboard video in the bios. Good luck.

Steve