[New System Build] Thoughts, comments, advice? (first time builder)

Hello everybody,

As the title states, this is my first time building a computer. I am in the middle of a computer hardware and software essentials course at my college, and we have taken apart / put together several computers. I have taken great intrest in building my own computer for several obvious reasons (college student so I'm not exactly rich =P ) and I am thinking about possible careers in the computer industry.

I have been interested in computers ever since I took our older computer apart and added a new CD/DVD burner and video card when i was 15 (19 now) and since then i have added some components to my laptop, and fixed one regular xbox, and two xbox 360's by myself.

So, with all the boring backstory done, I have created a build from parts all off newegg.com (I have heard good things.) I have several things i would like looked over.....

1. Is everything compatible? This is my first major worry, components not working with eachother, is everything going to work when i put my dream box together?

2. Longevity. Obviously i would rather not have to buy new components every two months to keep up with games now days, so how powerful will this PC be? I will mainly be playing WoW and some CoD4, and also Left 4 Dead.

3. Power. Will these games run well? My laptop, an Alienware(lol) M5500 runs WoW pretty crappy. I drop to about 3-2 FPS while doing 25 man raids. Now for this new computer I'm not asking for 100 FPS in all situations, but something around 30ish or so.

So, with all that aside, here is the build:

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

MoBo: MSI P45 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (interesting heat pipe design)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail (i didnt know if the stock heat sink+ fan would be enough, so i bought a MASSCOOL 8W501B1M3G 90mm Ball CPU Cooler - Retail along with it)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model BL25664AA80A - Retail ( x2, so 4gigs)

Vid Card: EVGA 01G-P3-N880-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Optical Drive: ASUS 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-22B1ST - Retail

Then of course I had to get speakers and a monitor.

So, including tax and shipping, the build totals out to be $1299.53, which is good since i'll probably do the Bill Me Later plan.

So, is everything compatable? are there things i could downgrade to lower cost? or things that i should upgrade or change?

Also, how hard is it to format a hard drive, install an OS (my hardware class gives me acces to windows vista business (64bit)for FREE! so im set on the OS) and update drivers. I am more hardware savvy than i am software, so detailed help would be great.

Appreciate the comments, and look forward to joining everybody in the tech world!

+1 to Animal's suggestions

For the DVD burners, if you really want the 22x, I would go with this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827118023
I've had several different burners, but asus has been the worst of all the different brands.

^ +1 to all 3, good advice by the animal, aford and as always the Proximon

Any other thoughts? Anything wrong with the items chosen? If not, today is the day I order =D

I think the general consensus (*ducks to avoid flaming towels should he be wrong*) around here is not to go for additional extended warranties, and to just go with the manufacturer's warranty.

The theory in electronics for many years has been if it's defective, it won't take too long for it to show.

Good luck building the dream box

Thanks, I figured about the same thing, but had the warranties on there anyways, just in case. Now that i took them off (since extended warranties just seemed to be a money sink in my situation) i saved myself $70.

Cant wait to get this baby built! (Coolermaster HAF case is so sexy >.> )

Also, since im at class right now and have huge amounts of time on my hands, should i be worried about buying additional things like cables or wires, since the HDD and CD/DVD burner are OEM? From what information I gathered OEM products might not come with cables, books, and other things a retail product would come with.

The mobo will come with cables and power connectors.

You will have to do extra tweaking to populate all 4 memory slots. Start out with 4GB, then worry about the other 4 later.

It was just your wording. And a lack of coffee

Yeah i forgot to update my cart, since i found a set for a bit less (same as what you linked)

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996587 - Retail

Now all I have to do is get home and order the stuff. Anybody ever use the Bill Me Later thing? I don't have much of a credit line, so I hope the approve me for $1200 >.>

The mobo mounts should come with the case. Sometimes you have to look, they like to tape them to the frame.

I've used bill me later. It's a nice feature. The amount of time allowed depends on how much you spend. It's basically a 'same as cash' purchase.