Nothing like the first time... be gentle!

[Publicradiohead]

Well -- I'm gonna try it! Here is what I'm thinking... any red flags? Is it ok that I picked the OEM Vista? I really wanna keep this as straight forward as possible.

Ultra m998
http://www.compusa.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2765147&Sku=ULT40069&SRCCODE=BIZUSA&CMP=OTC-BIZRATE

PC Power & cooling 610
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005

Intel e8400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188024

EVGA nForce 780i
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

G.Skill 2x2g
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231148

EVGA 8800GTS 512 (g92)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130337

Creative Labs X-FI X-Gamer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005

WD 500g SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

Asus 20/32 Lightscribe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135156

Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit DVD - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

[RickyTick]

Cases are very much a personal preference. I'm not at all familiar with that particular one, but the features it listed all sounded good and the reviews were excellent. It did seem to lack a lot of air flow though. Maybe I missed something.

You didn't mention anything about wanting to go with SLI somewhere down the road, so I'm not sure why you'd want the 780i motherboard. Almost any P35 motherboard would do. We tend to recommend Gigabyte, Asus, and Abit around here. There are some known compatibility issues with the Nvidia motherboards (780i) and the Intel 45nm Penryn processors. (Reported in the latest edition of Maximum PC)

My limited experience with PC P&C power supplies has been all good. You may however want to consider a modular psu to reduce the amount of wires in your case. Look at a Corsair HX series for example.

I like G.Skill ram. Its good stuff. The one you linked to is kinda expensive, and I think its wise to use (2x2gb) This might be a better choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

Because this hard drive has higher platter density, it's actually faster than the 500gb you listed. And at 17 cents per gigabyte, its hard to beat.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014+103530113+1035335532&name=640GB


What do you think about that?

[The Wise Monkey]

You posted the same link twice, Ricky. :)

[RickyTick]

oops, fixed.

Thanks

[Publicradiohead]

Thanks for your suggestions Ricky! Check these out:

GA-EP35-DS3R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128086

OCZ Reaper (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002

and that HDD you mentioned.

Another question -- is it better to pair up the video card and mobo -- like both from gigabyte, or evga... or whomever?

[RickyTick]

Another question -- is it better to pair up the video card and mobo -- like both from gigabyte, or evga... or whomever?

No need to pair up. That's the beauty of a home built system.

Looks great.