New System Build Help - General and Gaming

I am getting ready to build my system the week of 23-Mar-2009. I am trying to build a fairly robust system that will be used for general computer use and gaming (Empire: Total War, Rise Of Flight, Call Of Duty: World At War). The below configuration is what I am planning on at the moment. I would appreciate any advice. Is there anything that looks out of whack? Is there an opportunity to upgrade something important without adding much cost? Have I over-killed on anything?

Also, are there in very detailed and up-to-date information rich manuals for building you own computer that you would highly recommend?

This is my first build and again, any help is appreciated.

1 COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #:RC-932-KKN1-GP
Item #:N82E16811119160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119160
$159.99
Purchased


1 BFG ES-800 Power Supply
http://www.hardocp.com/article.htm [...] VzaWFzdA==
$109.99
Purchased


1 EVGA 132-YW-E179-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #:132-YW-E179-TR
Item #:N82E16813188040
$179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188040


1 BFG Tech BFGEGTX260MC896OCXBE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #:BFGEGTX260MC896OCXBE
Item #:N82E16814143175
$208.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814143175

1 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 - Retail
Model #:BX80570E8500
Item #:N82E16819115036
$189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115036


1 Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS34G2000LLKN - Retail
Model #VS34G2000LLKN
Item #:N82E16820220344
$154.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820220344


1 Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #:WD1001FALS
Item #:N82E16822136284
$119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136284


1 ASUS 22X DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-22B1LT - Retail
Model #RW-22B1LT
Item #:N82E16827135186
$28.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827135186


Subtotal: $1,152.92

Thanks very much!

Thanks for the reply. I think I am going in an Intel CPU and nVidia GPU direction, but the suggestion you made on memory sounds like a good way to save some on the budget.

Thanks again,

Thanks for replying.

I think I will go down a notch on the memory like you suggest, and save a bit.

I have gone back and forth on the i7, they have not been in the field for very long and I just generally worry about very new technology. I can't afford the the fast i7 processor, do you think the 2.66 processor is fast enough for gaming. I really don't want to overclock my CPU.

I am going to play the combat sim Rise Of Flight when it comes out, and I did note that the developers mentioned a 30% performance improvement when using quad cores, so that is one argument for it.

Do you know of any good manuals to suggest for building a computer? I have a few, but still looking for something better.

Thanks again,

The i7 will do well for you . OC'ing it is really easy, you can OC to 3.0 ghz by just changing the BCLK to 150 and it will outperform the 940, and just use all stock voltages. Its rock solid on my mobo, and I imagine it will be on all others too.