Help for a new builder

Well I'm a new at this sort of thing, and I'm looking to make a gaming computer for about $1000, to $2000 dollars. I've looked into some stuff, and figured out I'm pretty much lost with what seems to be a lot of parts that seem to be exactly the same, any good help with a system?

Good build ~$1500 i think:
P5Q Deluxe mobo
Q9550 cpu
4 gigs of 800/1000/1066 ram
Nvidia 9800GX2 (older but has a great $/performance now)
WD 640AAKS
Antec 900/1200 (if u want full tower)
Thermaltake 850 (or other good PSU make sure it has an 8 pin for GX2)
Cpu cooler- Xigmatek 1283, Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer, Thermalright 120 Extreme (only if ull lap it)

Its a good build and can be fined tuned to ur needs

The most important component for gaming is the VGA card. Get the best one that you feel comfortable buying. The GTX280 is a fine choice, and will be able to play anything out there very well. It should cost about $400. Some go higher because they are factory overclocked to the tune of about 10%. That premium does not seem worth it to me. Others are more expensive because they have factory installed water cooling. Also not worth it to me.
The 4870X2 is the new card on the block. In general, it is more capable than the GTX280, but it comes at a premium price of about $550. Is it worth it to you?
Remember, that these cutting edge cards will be somewhat dated in a year.

At the level of the E8500 or Q6600, the vga card is much more important for gaming than the cpu.
At that level, overclocking is good for bragging, but it will not net you as much increase
in FPS as a better vga card will. Today, very few games can make use of more than two cores.
Flight simulator X is an exception. It is not a trivial matter to code multi threaded programs,
and game vendors will not sell too many games that require quads to run.
I don't see this changing in the next couple of years.

Net: E8500 for the increased clock speed.

Most oem coolers will do the job, and keep the noise low. Xigmatek os very popular, and priced well http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003 Do get the oppptional backplate to avoid thise tricky push pin mounts.

There is no need for a premium priced motherboard unless you are planning on dual vga cards. You should be able to get a Nice P35 or P45 motherboard from Asus or Gigabyte for <$100.

Is there a need for two cd/dvd drives? A dvd burner will do everything. Samsung makes a quiet one.

I happen to like fast hard drives, and the raptor is good. The velociraptor is even better, but it DOES make a difference. I like the strategy of a fast small system drive and a slower large drive for storage and backups.

You can save a bit on the case by using the Antec three hundred . http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129042
It cools as well as the 900, and is a bit smaller. No "bling" though.

Don't skimp on the quality of the Power supply. The PC P&C silencer610 is a great deal at $79.95 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703005

For ram, get 4gb in a 2x2gb matched kit. It preserves your option to upgrade to 8gb, and it is easier to overclock with just 2 sticks.
DDR2-800 from a quality vendor is fine. Faster is not much worth it. Think 1-2% inframe rates vs. synthetic benchmarks.

Vista home premium-64 is good. Do you qualify for an academic license?

---good luck---

+1


I like your inclusion of accessories, but would hesitate to recommend an $80 keyboard. The Death Adder is the best mouse I have ever owned(out of MX518, G5, and Diamondback)