1st time budget gaming build

pretty sure this will work but just to be sure and for budgeting tips from the more experienced, how does this look to you?

looking to play recent FPS/RTS/racing games.

E8400 (stock cooling?)
Gigabyte EP43-DS3R
MSI 9800GTX+ OC 512MB (unbeatable price)
iCute S901-5G1 with 25cm FAN
Kingston DDR2 4(2x2G)PC6400 800Mhz - KVR800D2N5K2/4G
Antec Neopower 550w modular w/ 2x 6 pin for 9800GTX+
Western Digital 250G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD(16Mb Cache)
Pioneer DVR-216BK SATA 20x Dual Black OEM with software


to run with:
ASUS 24" LCD w/ D sub, DVI, HDMI.
component home theatre system w/ RCA & optical audio input.

will consider mild CPU OC, but not SLI.

*the link for the case is slightly different; the case i want doesnt have a window, just one 25cm fan on the side.

well the case is very ugly , but apart from that it will run fine

The gfx card is a little light for a 24 inch monitor . You will be fine but you will have to turn some detail down

i already have the 24", bought it months ago, wont be changing it.

trying to stick to a budget but to increase to a 1GB, the only choice available is the gigabyte 9800GTX+ for $60 more, with a lesser 740MHz core instead of the MSI's 760MHz.

so is it worth the extra cash because of my 24" screen?

the cheaper OC'ed 512MB MSI or 1GB gigabyte for $60 more?

not really interested in the 4850/4870 that are more expensive, require more power, run hotter, & dont seem as good according to the FPS bench marks compared to the 9800GTX+. the 260GTX & 9800GX2 are too expensive.

sorry i should have explained my choices a bit more, the small hard drive is cause ive already got a few external HDD's with about 350GB spare space already for media. i dont seem to need more but then im not used to having a heap of games on the drive, ill just go a 320 or 500 then.

should be running XP SP3 ive already got, so it wont take up much room, then onto windows 7 at launch.

thanks for the tip on the motherboard, chose the EP43 it has what i want, and its $50 ($35 USD) cheaper than any EP45.

ive found big savings on the EP43 ive chosen that does what i need it to, should i spend alot more on a better board when im not considering SLI? (the PSU wouldnt support it anyway i dont think)

k cheers, thats something ill take into consideration. i also have a 42" 720p (1366x768) LCD w/ HDMI, so if 1920x1200 seems to take a toll, i could use the lower res screen as a back up plan.