New budget GAMING comp help~

I would say for CPU, get a dual core, since all you're doing is playing games. E8400 is really nice or E8500 if you have a few more bucks.

Motherboard: If you're ever planning on slapping 2 video cards in there, get an x38 or x48 board. But if you're never planning on playing games above 1680x1050, you don't really need 2 cards, so that board is fine.

Case: Don't know a whole lot about, but you can get an antec 900 right now for $70 after rebate AND get leds and whatnot.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021

PSU, if you're planning on going with 2 cards, the safest thing to do is get a 750W PSU. Corsair makes a nice one. If you're only going with 1 card, I'm sure a 550W would be plenty.

Hard Drive: I would say get one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148288

They're about as fast as your raptor and hold 500GB. Or you could go with the WD equivalent.

Cooling: Just grab one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

Top of the line cooling for $26 after rebates.

If you're not a hard core gamer, you won't need crossfire or SLI. The same goes for a case, you won't need 6 120mm fans.
Motherboard- P43 single card at PCIex16 2.0 Asus P5QL $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131329
CPU- Intel E8500 Due to price drop just $15 more than the E8400 $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115036
Case power supply combo Antec Sonata- a good quiet case with a energy efficient and quality power supply $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129024
HD- WD 640 plenty of space, good speed, SATA $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218
DVD/CD burner- SATA $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106263
Cooler- stock cooler that comes with the E8500, fine unless you're going to be overclocking, memory is fine, HD4850 is a good choice

Ok this is the updated list, please make any recommendation or comment on anything I should change or whatever:

CPU:

E8500

MB:

ASUS P5QL PRO LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Graphics:

Sapphire 4850 512 MB

RAM:

Mushkin 2 x 2GB DDR2 800

Case:

Antec Sonata III 500 w/ 500W PSU combo.

PSU:

Look above

Hard Drive:

None, I'll be using my old Raptor for now.. I think.. still deciding

Cooling:

Stock cooling or should I spend money on something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003
And if I do end up getting this, is there any additional parts or things I need?

Right now the total (Not including the shipping or rebates) is: $672.90. What do you guys think?

atrain:

I don't really plan to OC that much, if at all. So 500W is fine? I'll probably end up getting that HD though.

random question: I've always used XP Pro, but I'm wondering if I should upgrade to Vista. Is it worth it? If so, what version (32 or 64 bit) should I get?

500w is fine for your setup.

Personally I'd avoid Vista for as long as you can. While the horror stories from early on are no longer the case, it will still be more resource intensive than XP and cause more overhead. Using the PSU calc at http://www.extreme.outervision.com/ I get an actual system draw of about 300W and with overhead for capacitor aging, a recommended rating of about 350W... so you're more than fine with that 500W (which *is* of decent quality). If it were a no-name 500W I'd say forget about it, but it's an Antec Earthwatts (Seasonic built) so you're fine.

-mcg

Go with Vista Home Premium 64, you can get it for about $100. I thinks it's a pretty nice OS, and is better than XP, plus you'll get DX 10. Most people on here who have made the switch like it.

Yea, I think I'll go with the 8500 since it's just a $15 increase. I'll also stick with the stock cooler unless I see high temps. Speaking of which, what's a good normal idle/running temp for the 8500s? Also, do I need to buy thermal paste or fans or does the CPU and case come with that, it's been a while since I build a comp.

My recommendations for your budget:

CPU:
E8400/E8500(gaming) Q6600/9450 (video editing,etc)

Motherboard:
P45-DS3L (if no CrossFire) or X48-DS4 (CrossFire) or ASUS X48 P5E Deluxe(CrossFire)

RAM:
2*2GB DDR2 800 RAM from a good manufacture like Corsair, Crucial, Patriot, G.Skill,etc. Be careful with DDR2 1066 RAM, they seem to have compatibility issues.

GPU:
ATI 4850/4870 from a good manufacture.

PSU(Never SKIMP on the PSU):

For single GPU:
PC Power & Cooling 610 or Corsair 650 (You can also get the Corsair 550, but it is about same price as the 650TX on newegg)

For CrossFire/Multi GPU:
PP&C 750 or Corsair 750

HDD:
500GB+ 7200.11 (possibly in RAID if getting 2*500GB)

HSF (mainly if OCing only):
XIGMATEK S1283 (+ bolt in kit)

DVD RW:
Get a good quality SATA DVD RW.

Case:
This is a personal preference but I recommend the good old Antec 900.

OS:
Again this is a personal preference. I personally take XP over Vista for most cases, but Vista is good never the less. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are getting Vista make sure your printer, camera, WiFi, etc has Vista drivers. The same case goes to Vista/XP x64 versions.

going to your os if you want to have 4gb you need to go with vista 64 bit i am using windows vista ultimate 64 bit if you use a 32 bit it doesn't recognize the whole 4gb of memory

1. DDR2 800 is fine. Just because your mobo can handle 1066 doesn't mean you have to waste the extra money on it. There's very little performance difference between the two.

2. Yes. IDE is just another name for PATA, and that board has a single PATA capable of running 2 devices.

3. If you're not OCing, or if you're only OCing a little bit the stock HSF if fine. You can always buy the Xiggy later if you decide you want to push your OC.