New PC Parts List (Advice??)

[freebird]

Hi All, after months of Playing on low settings on my old machine I have finally descided to try and build my first machine. I am shooting for a solid mid range system for DDO now and hopefully AOC later on. I am a total newb when it comes to building machines but have good friends to help me put it together. Basically just looking for feedback on the parts list I have put together..(Total system comes in right around 1700$)
Could I add anything? or potentially change anything?

1LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-

1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe

1 A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model ADQVE1A16K - Retail

1 GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

1 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

1 Acer AL2223Wd Black-Silver 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor

1 Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply

1 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

1 EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Going to Run xp for now and I plan to OC so I will add a CPU cooler.

Thanks
Chris

[Aeneas]

Build looks good man.

Might i suggest however, the OCZ platinum 2gb kit that's on sale for 63 bucks after rebate on newegg.com right now however. Might help you save a couple bucks and OCZ makes very good stuff.

Or, since it seems that you're really not afraid to spend money in the first place, the new OCZ REAPER stuff that just released which is probably a bit pricey but supposed to be very very sick.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/press/2007/240

Go there for more info. (Yep, CAS 3 ddr2 800, zippy)

[kanbeki]

If you want to futureproof yourself to a lesser degree, you may want to look at Intel 6x50 chips, P35 chipset based boards, and DDR3. I don't have any suggestions as to which models you should look at, but it is just a suggestion

[thatguy]

If you want to futureproof yourself to a lesser degree, you may want to look at Intel 6x50 chips, P35 chipset based boards, and DDR3. I don't have any suggestions as to which models you should look at, but it is just a suggestion

DDR3 is a gigantic was waste of money because of the latency associated with what that RAM. In a year from now DDR3 may be a viable choice but for now your best spending your money on DDR2 PC 6400. Having just built a system based on the Core 2 Duo E6600 I would recommend not using the stock heat sink I built my system using the Zalman CNPS 9700 NT. As far as thermal paste goes I would use Arctic Silver 5. When applying thermal paste remember that more isn't always better, if you use to much it messes up the heat transfer from the chip to your heatsink.

Check this link out on the application of thermal paste.


You can get a Quad Core processor now for 289.99 That processor would age very well in your system and give you a ton of processing power.

Thats my opinion.

[kanbeki]

DDR3 is a gigantic was waste of money because of the latency associated with what that RAM. In a year from now DDR3 may be a viable choice but for now your best spending your money on DDR2 PC 6400. Having just built a system based on the Core 2 Duo E6600 I would recommend not using the stock heat sink I built my system using the Zalman CNPS 9700 NT. As far as thermal paste goes I would use Arctic Silver 5. When applying thermal paste remember that more isn't always better, if you use to much it messes up the heat transfer from the chip to your heatsink.

Check this link out on the application of thermal paste.


You can get a Quad Core processor now for 289.99 That processor would age very well in your system and give you a ton of processing power.

Thats my opinion.

at no point did I say DDR3 was the best for performance, I simply implied it could be more cost efficient down the line if he chose to upgrade. Also the P35 Chipset that supports DDR3 also supports 45nm CPUs which will be much better with heat than the current Core2Duo line up

[thatguy]

at no point did I say DDR3 was the best for performance, I simply implied it could be more cost efficient down the line if he chose to upgrade. Also the P35 Chipset that supports DDR3 also supports 45nm CPUs which will be much better with heat than the current Core2Duo line up

It is a waste of money to pay top dollar for that now, but if you would do that with your money you are more then welcome to. Enjoy.