Looking for advise on my 1st build

[mrcheeks00]

Hi all. I'll start this off by saying...I'm a noob and I'm about to embark on my first ever build. It's going to be a gaming setup and I'm a little unsure about the hardware I've chosen. I have $2000 to spend and would obviously like the best quality and performance for the money. I've been reading tons of forums, reviews, "how to's" and various articles on choosing hardware. But I would like some opinions on the selections I've made. If I'm missing anything or there are better choices as far as quality or performance please let me know. Here's the hardware I picked out..
Any feedback or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!


Case: Apevia X-Telestar Full ATX case

Motherboard: Intel LGA 775 P45 Motherboard 1600/1300 FSB w/ 2 PCIe x16 slots

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16ghz

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm SATA

Memory: Kingston 4GB (2x2gb) GDDR3 1333 Dual Channel

GPU: Nvidia GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked

Power Supply: Corsair 750w SLI/Crossfire ready

DVD Drive: Sony DVD-ROM SATA

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium SP-1 64-Bit

 

[mindless728]

with that kind of money you could get an i7 build (i am assuming 2000USD)

 

[smithereen]

Switch to Phenom II or i7.

 

[HibyPrime]

Here's an overhaul. $993 - $1000 off of your target price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136144
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152101
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161277 x2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

 

[mrcheeks00]

@HibyPrime
Wow...Thank you for taking the time to look that stuff up and linking it. That's really cool of you. Thats a HUGE price difference from what I planned on spending!

 

[HibyPrime]

its a huge price difference, and quite a bit faster than what you linked

You could go and spend the full two grand, but really, it's mostly a waste.

 

[gkay09]

+1 for Hiby
Well you could push your budget little more and get the X4 955 with AM3 mobo and DDR3 RAM...it is much more favourable...

 

[mrcheeks00]

I have a couple questions. I plan on connecting this PC to a 50" plasma. Will the on-board sound be ok or will I need to add a sound card? And I see a couple people advising AMD processors. With the exception of price, is there a difference between those and intel?

 

[HibyPrime]

You'll be fine with onboard sound. The only time you need a sound card is if you have a bose speaker setup and an extremely fine tuned ear

Intel's are faster than AMDs. If you look the benchmarks on this site, it's up to you if the ~$300 is worth the performance increase.