$750-900 Computer Please Suggestions!

[redfin]

Ok here we go and I am open to your good suggestions!

BUDGET: $750-$900
GOAL: Play latest games and compute baby! Also I want to overclock but I am a newbie at it so nothing that is too hard to overclock!

CPU: E8400 3.0ghz - $199
MB: ASUS 750i P5N-D $150 or EVGA Nforce 750I SLI Ftw $189
(for PCI-E 2.0 and SLI ? Worth it?)
Mem: OCZ NVIDIA SLI Ready XTC (2x1GB) PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz $33 after rebate
Fan: Coolmaster HyperTX X2 $30
PSU: Cooler Master RP-650-PCAR 650W eXtreme Power SLI Super Silent w/ Intelligent Fan Control $60
Vid: ? PCI E 2.0

Case: Suggestions? This is the most confusing part for me. I want the best value case for cooling my system and I dont care about looks at all.
HD: Suggestions? I have a 500gb external for storage so I am looking for a fast cheap HD doesnt have to be very big.
DVD/CD: Cheap CD/DVDR/W Suggestions?

So, I dont know if Im wasting my money on a SLI board that could be spent on just a better video card but it seems like expert reviews say 2 video cards really boosts game performance enough to matter. Then I read other posts where people seem to hate SLI but dont seem overly reliable and almost come off as just being resistant for the sake of it.

Im Canadian eh so some parts might not be available here but most are! weeee! Thanks in advance for your advice I REALLY appreciate it. This stuffs complicated! lol.

 

[Zenthar]

IMO, SLI isn't a really good option on a tight budget. Most of the time on budget, you can't afford to buy both cards right away, so you end-up having a lower-end card for a while and if you wait too much before buying it, a card comes-out that can single-handedly beat the SLI config for around the price you will have paid your 2 cards; that is without even considering the extra you paid for MB and PSU to handle SLI.

On your budget, I would suggest something similar to what I got:
CPU: E8400 is good, buy retail
MB: Gigabyte P35-DS3L MB (good reliable board with decent overclocking)
Mem: With 2GB you might be limited ... forget gaming under Vista and maybe Crysis (takes 1GB+ on my machine), I suggest 4GB (either 4x1GB or 2x2GB, you choose if you want to be able to have 8GB later on.
Fan: If you don't plan to OC right away, you can wait to buy; with retail CPU you got 3 year warranty anyway.
PSU: Anything tier 1/2 with least 520W that fits you needs will do.
GPU: You can get a good 8800GTS (G92) for about 220$ now.
HD: If you can afford it, try having a separate HD for OS (you can get 250GB HDs for ~66$ now)

For price checking, see www.shopbot.ca, good price search engine in Canada, search through it to find all my parts. I looked a bit and Direct Canada seems to have many good prices right now.

 

[cisco]

Not to disagree with Zenthar entirely but I always get SLI boards just for the versatility of having the option to add another card later. Generally Nvidia SLI boards have better performance as well. The gigabyte he mentioned is a great MB for the price. I agree with him that you should go for 4gigs. Vista is a ram hungry Biotch. As cheap as DDR2 is right now, it would be in your best interest to get it now before it starts to go back up. Once the supplies have dwindled it may be hard to get another matching pair. Although you can run different ram, I don't recommend it.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006425

I have this ram and highly recommend it.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008035

 

[patater]

look at the centurion 5 case by coolermaster. very strong 120mm fan in the back that sucks a lot of air thru the mesh air filter front. i think the case is like 35-40 bucks now. looks pretty cool too, but very very functional. yeah a 500w is pretty good, just search the commom sites you can find out there. would a 9600gt be fine, or two of them together? that would be alright. but then again, the 3850 is pretty good deal for what, 120 bucks? all up to you tho, its your money, but i would get the 3850

 

[redfin]

Great points! Here is where I am at now.

CPU: E8400 3.0ghz - $199 OC it to around 4GHZ
MB: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L $90 Screw SLI from research it doesnt seem worth the money for the performance gains!
Fan: Coolmaster HyperTX X2 $30
Vid: Galaxy GeForce 8800 GT OC $160 http://redflagdeals.pricecanada.com/detail.php?product_id=516495&sku=88YFF6HUFEXV
or XFX GeForce 9600GT XXX $175 http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?affiliateid=4352418&sku=29310&promoid=1078
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 16MB Cache
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V 20/24PIN Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?affiliateid=4352418&sku=26884&promoid=1078

I know this PSU isnt on the list and the maker is in Tier 4 or 5 but can you tell me if this specific one is worth buying.. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...asp?EdpNo=2143208&sku=ULT33135&srkey=V-Series

The reason why I want to know is I can get a case with a 500W PSU (That one I believe) for only $90! Link below

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1776113&CatId=1858