New Build

[freestyler105]

Alright, so I'm planning a new build to get ready for Vista (and my family is sick of using their computer too much). I'm probably going to buy the parts over a period of time. I've saved up for a long time for this, and my dad is going to pay for some of it, so it's ok if it goes a little over. My budget is about $1500, so I'm not going to skimp out on any of the parts.

Motherboard - I don't think I really know enough about motherboards right now to make a well informed decision, but I'm looking at the Asus P5B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030
$140


CPU - Core 2 Duo E6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003
$315


RAM - Looking for recommendations, probably DDR2-800 and 2-4 GB of it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034
$280


Graphics Card - A lot of my budget is going to go here. I'm probably going to wait a few months into next year to finally buy a DX10 card, and for now my 7600GT will do fine. Any estimates on the price of the DX10 cards at release?
Too much.


PSU - I already have a 550 watt PSU that I'm going to take out of another computer
$0


Hard Drive - I have no idea where to begin with this. I think I want one fast drive with a lower capacity (maybe a Raptor) and another storage drive with at least 200GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136033
$225


DVD-RW - Any recommendations? I'm not planning on buying HD-DVD or Blu-Ray until one comes out on top.
about $30


Cooling - I'm planning on doing some overclocking, and I want some good cooling to back it up. I don't want to spend more than $100 on this, though. Is water cooling worth the extra money? I've also heard good things about the Tuniq Tower. I'd need some case fans in addition to the Tuniq tower though.
http://www.emvee.ca/product_info.php?currency=USD&products_id=715
$100


Sound Card - Creative X-Fi Sound Blaster. I'm debating between these two cards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102188
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102005
$150


Case - I need a recommendation here. I don't want anything too flashy, but some LEDS are ok as long as they look nice. I'd like something high-quality that isn't going to be too hot as well.
$100


Speakers - I'm looking at these. They need to be good for music and for gaming
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121121
$115


Keyboard - Razer Tarantula!!!!
http://www.razerzone.com/Products/Gaming-Keyboards/Razer-Tarantula-Gaming-Keyboard/
No price listed yet, probably around $100


Mouse - I already have the Razer Copperhead, if you don't have it yet, I'd recommend it to anyone
$0


Monitor - I want a nice 20.1" widescreen with an 8ms or less response time. This one got excellent reviews on Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014105
$300


Darn. It totalled out to $1855 without even adding in the graphics card. That's a bit more than a little over. Well, I'll probably not buy such nice hard drives and there are a few things I could cut the price on. I guess I just have to work a little overtime for a few months.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Anubis1980]

well i gotta say one thing...
i want that keyboard lol

As for the ram, id prob go for 2gb now thats enough for modern games, and xp 32 bit wont see all the 4gb anyway, i know u said its for vista, but by the time its out and useable properly ud be able to afford more ram anyway hopefully, so id stick the extra cash somewhere else. You might also have to upgrade the psu in the future if its for dx10 cards but again thats in the future... shud be fine for the 7600gt.

 

[freestyler105]

Thanks for the help Anubis. The only other help I really need is:

How do those speakers look? I've never had high quality speakers for my PC and I'd really like some nice ones, but again I don't want to spend more than about $150 on them.

A case. I want something that is going to look nice without being too flashy, and I don't want it to cost more than $150. It would also be nice to have a window to look in at the parts. I'm thinking about this one, then adding some simple fans with LEDs for looks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112040
Can you recommend some good case fans?

About how many watts are DirectX10 video cards going to use? I have a Rosewill 550 watt PSU right now.

 

[VirtualDrone]

Those speakers that you want to get are awesome! My friend has a set and the sound is really good. Logitech is a good company with sound and you get what you pay for.

As for fans I can't really help you cause the ones I use are all stock. I do have a green 80mm mutant mod fan though. It has really good airflow but it is quite loud.