newbie here, building a new computer

I'm not the most knowledgeable person in computers, but I know the basics and wanted some input on the PC I'm going to be building in the near future. I've got a general idea of what I want, but suggestions are welcome. I'll be using the computer mainly for gaming, maybe a little video editing (nothing large). Building an entire computer except a monitor (case, HD, CD/DVD drive, psu, cpu, memory, the whole shabang) and am on a $1100-$1300 budget. LMK what I should keep/change if anything.

Processor: AMD64 2800+, oem
Motherboard: Chaintech nForce3 250
Memory: Corsair XMS DDR PC-3200 (256x2)
Video Card: XFX nVIDIA GeForce6800 128mb/256bit, retail
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2, oem
CD/DVD-RW Drive: Lite-On 48x CD-ROM, 12x DVD-ROM (12x DVD-R, 4x DVD+RW, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW; 48x CD-R, 24x CD-RW)
Hard Drive: Western Digital SE 80GB 7200RPM, 8MB Buffer, IDE, oem
Power Supply: CoolMax 450W (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-159-002&depa=0)
Heatsink: Thermaltake Venus + Arctic Silver 5
Case: Chenming 602 w/ Full Window (http://www.xoxide.com/chenming6021.html) -- four 80mm case fans
Headset: Sennheiser PC150

comes out to roughly $1050

You dont need that expensive ram.
I dont see any speakers. If you are using the headset for sound, you should give onboard sound a try. It has come a long way, in the last year.
If you are not OCing, get the retail chip, and forget the Venus.
If you can save enough, you can upgrade to the 6800GT.

I agree with endyen, save some money on the RAM. You can check out this article, and you will see how little memory timings really affect performance:

<A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index.html" target="_new">http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index.html</A>

Also on-board sound is normally pretty good so you may give that a try. Especially if you are just using head phones. Even if you are using speakers also, onboard sound would be plenty.

Maybe the money saved from going with a cheaper RAM and ditching the sound card could go towards a better video card? You would see more performance gains from that then you would the exspensive RAM and video card.

My Desktop: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html</A>
Overclocking Results: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc2.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc2.html</A>

hey guys thanks for the replies. In reply to DonnieDarko, just talked to a friend about that and he brought to my attention exactly what you said, so I'll be getting a stick of 512mb. Other than that, I was wondering (sorry if this a dumb question) but what exactly is the difference between Value series and Ultra series models of ram? For instance, the Geil Value and Ultra series (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-305&depa=0 -- value, http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProd [...] 304&depa=0 -- ultra) have almost the same listed CAS latency times, but ones ~$50 cheaper. Is it the heatspreaders? If so, what benefits would I have getting the Ultra series?

I will agree with everyone.....Ditch the sound card, get 1 dimm of 512 Value ram(I have kingston and the same board and cpu as you want, but whatever major brand vaule ram is the cheapest),and that should save you enough to get a 6800GT....the 6800GT is WAY better then the vanilla6800.

Also get a 200GB WD Drive, the cost per Gig is much lower. Granted the price is higher but if you upgrade its liek getting a 120GB drive for 53bucks.(i checked and did the math.) After you throw a couple games on, some music, and who knows what else for 53bucks...having the extra 120GB is a steal.

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