GF's first system

My girlfriend has been saving for the past few months for a new gaming rig. (We mostly play TF2 and are looking forward to Left 4 Dead in the near future.) She now has about $1250 to spend and asked me to pick out some hardware. I've tried to follow the advice I've learned here.

Any opinions on this build, or tips on what areas I could splurge a little more on for an extra boost? I've heard that DDR3 isn't really worth the cost at the moment, so in particular I'm wondering if I should go for a faster CPU...

CPU ($175) Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache
RAM ($105) CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
MOBO ($215) DFI LANPARTY DK X48-T2RS LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX
VIDEO ($285) ASUS EAH4870/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5
SOUND ($28) Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels
PSU ($150) PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
HD ($120) SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
DISC ($26) SAMSUNG 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD Burner
CASE ($70) Thermaltake M9 VI1000BNS Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Case
LCD - (Already has a new purdy 22 incher)

Total price: $1209.99 with shipping before rebates, $1089.99 with shipping after rebates

Looks fine, and will produce a very nice gaming machine. You don't need an expensive X48 mobo like the one you chose though, unless you're planning on buying two GPU's and setting them up in a Crossfire configuration (and it doesn't look like you're planning that).

Save some money (100 bucks or more) and get something like the Asus P5Q Pro or Gigabyte GA-EP45 DS3L.

The CPU you chose will take you about 10 minutes to overclock to 3.6 GHz, so I doubt you need a faster one. Take the money you save on your motherboard and buy a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 aftermarket CPU cooler so you can overclock more safely.

The PSU you chose is nice, but this one is probably a little cheaper and quieter, and at least of equal quality:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006

>buy a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 aftermarket CPU cooler so you can overclock more safely

I was planning on going with an AC aftermarket CPU cooler- not familiar with these XIGMATEK ones. I usually go AC for the quiet-ness. Are these things better or more efficient than AC? Usually I'm not a big overclocker, but I've heard that CPU is the real bottleneck in terms of when you hit your minimum FPS during a game. Does that sound right to you?

>Besides, on a 22'' monitor, you likely will see little or no benefit to your gaming experience by adding a second card.

I thought that SLI/crossfire really helped at higher resolutions... or is the fact that I consider 1680x1050 to be high resolution a sign that I'm aging? =P

Buy ddr2 800 ram for the Asus P5Q, it will give you less problems then the ddr2 1200.

Your CPU with ddr2 88 ram at defaults will run 3.6 in a 1:1 ratio.

I would but 4 gigs of DDR2 800 A-Data or G-skill either can be had for around $72.

I would also buy the e5200 instead of the e8400. The cache doesn't make a big enouh difference for the price difference.

e8400 = 9x multiplier
e5200 = 12.5 multiplier

9x 400 = 3.6
you could use 10 on the 5200 and achieve 4.0, and if you did it would wipe any performance difference of the cache away.

If you get the S1283 don't forget the Crossbow I7751.