Hello! I am planning to build a gaming computer for my husband for Father's Day. I have done some research and have read a lot of the forum posts here (they helped a lot....thanks), but I wanted to run this build by everyone before buying the components. My husband will be playing UT3 and I will be doing some light photo editing and general internet stuff.

Please let me know what you think of the components I have selected and if you think there is something else that may work better. I am hoping everything will fit in the case. I am pretty sure I have the correct Mhz, but maybe I am not seeing something right. Oh, I am trying to stay around $1000 or so (not including gaming keyboard, mouse, monitor and OS).

So here is what I have picked out so far:

APEVIA X-CRUISER-GN Green Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i FTW SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 01G-P3-N869-AR GeForce 9600GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Thermaltake CL-P0401 110mm Full-Range Fan CPU Cooler - Retail

Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Lite-On LH-20A1L-06 SuperAllwrite Retail Lightscribe DVD Burner - 20x DVD±R Burn, 16x DVD±R Read, Black, SATA

I look forward to any and all help. Thanks so much!

The parts you picked out all all compatibile and all very good choices (even if one is made of green steel).
That bright copper heat sink fan and it's blue light should look interesting in that green case.

Usually the HSF comes with its own thermal compound or thermal grease. I didnt see any for the CL-P0401 in either the accessory pack or listed in the specs under package contests. Package Contents comparison The Thermaltake website want any help either. Arctic Cooling MX-2 Easy to apply, non-conductive and no curing period.

I was going to suggest you could get the next lower Power Supply but it turns out after rebate the 700W model is less than the 600W model.

Your 9600GT is the most expensive model and at that price is very near the cost of the more powerful 8800GTS (G92) $10 difference after rebate.
Evga 9600GT Models Plus 8800GTS KO Was there any particular reason picking the 9600GT 1GB model over the 8800GTS?

You can save money if you buy an intel mobo. You don't need an sli mobo if you're not going sli. You might say you would down the road, but when? By the time you're ready for a 2nd card, there'll be a new more powerful card for about the same price. A good budget Intel mobo is GA-P35-DS3L for $90. If you don't overclock, the GPU will run at the same speed on DS3L & 750i. If you overclock the cpu, the DS3L might actually beat out the 750i. The only good thing about the 750 is X16 SLI.

I've seen it time & time again that people would buy an expensive SLI mobo and a lacking GPU due to cost. They could have bought a budget mobo + a powerful GPU and run faster in games. Ditch the 750i & pick up GTS512 & you're golden.