Build around e8400

well since its an nVidia chipset board and SLI capable

I'd add a GTX 460
a samsung F3 500 gig hard drive
and a 600 watt psu
and either 2 or 4 gig of 1066 MHz DDR2 depending on which OS you are going to run
plus a cost effective cooler . A scythe Mugen maybe . Read a few reviews , maybe you can do better for the money
I still like the antec 300 as the best budget case


Is your monitor actually 1920 x 1080? The gtx 460 should handle most games at reasonable settings . And if it doesnt you can add a second one later on .
With the cpu overclocked it will still be a very competitive pc

For the operating system I could put either windows 7 32 or 64 bit on it. I would probably go with 4 gigs of ram about was wondering how big of a difference ddr2 800mhz would makes.

I been eying the gtx 460 and it seems to be a very good card but wouldn't sling them bottleneck my cpu. I dont have much experience overclocking even though I heard very good things about the e8400 as far as OC's. Also if the cpu can effectively run them in sli woudn't I need a better power supply like 750watts?

The monitor I have is actually as 24'' westinghouse lcd which as a resolution of 1920x1200. It doesn't have a dvi input which is weird but it is a little old plus I can just pick up a dvi>hdmi cable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

This is basically my current system (see my signature)

I got it 2 years ago. It should handle most games at 1920x1200 with a gtx 460 1 GB or HD 6850. DDR2-800 vs DDR3-1333 is about 2% slower, so not a huge difference.

If you do SLI, you'll want a 600-650W PSU.

get the 64 bit OS and 4 gig of RAM

An OC'ed e 8400 is not going to slow your gaming down

yes 800 Mhz RAM is all you need , but it may be easier to overclock if you buy 1066MHz

Pretty much my current system as well. Add a GTX460/HD6870 and you will be fine at 1920x1080. I get 60+FPS in pretty much all the games I play. Dragon Age-Fallout series ect.

doesnt the p5n-D only have 800mhz support on the ram?
i have the same mobo and cpu with a gtx 260

1066 MHz RAM will let him increase FSB , without worrying if the 800MHz RAM will limit the OC

You could OC the e8400 by 25% before you start considering RAM timings and voltage