Pricing all from newegg, im going through them exclusively since i can get 12mo financing for $999 order right now.

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05 - OEM
$31.99

APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$79.99

Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
$169.99

EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
$259.99

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
$15.99

2 x G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
$93.98

ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
$149.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750
+
Rosewill RCX-Z4 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
$209.98

Subtotal: $996.90

Friend is selling me a 550W power supply, the hard drive was the only thing im kind of unsure on i bet i can get more bang for my buck on that and then get a little more processor power or mother board alternatively. But trying to stay just at the 1K mark altogether. Any tweaks or alternative would be nice suggestions.

Why are you buying an aftermarket heatsink. The stock ones are excellent. Also Arctic Silver is rubbish. It performs well at first, and then it dries out over time. Use the default phase changing pad that comes on the heatsink. It lasts forever and performs almost as well. Either that or use white goop if you absolutely must use something other than the stock material. It won't dry out over time like AS will.

Actually if you really want something special, use this. It performs better than AS5 and won't dry out. Or just don't try to be hardcore and use the stock stuff because it is just fine.

Oh, and Raptors aren't really worth it. They have good seek times, but the Seagate 7200.10 and 7200.11 models actually have better transfer rates, and they get you a whole lot more space for your money. For that price you could probably get a 750 I imagine. Last I checked, 500 GB models were about 90.

yea i wasn't sure if i'd get any thermal compound or not with also didn't know if the stock heatsink and fan would be good enough but i've heard enough people say tell me, yea its fine that ill stick with that...

ok we're down to $960 by just changing that around now i can spare $40 for more powers!

What brand power supply is he selling you? The best ones are FSP, Seasonic or any of the rebrands of them. This includes Antec, Fortron, OCZ and others.

**** the GT, get the new GTS with the G92 core. ****er screams.

Getting that aftermarket HSF is not only pointless, but frivolous. Never decide on your heatsink before seeing how your stock one performs. If you're not planning on overclocking, never get an aftermarket one PERIOD. If you can push 500mhz on air with your stock hsf (trust me, it's more plausible than you'd think) then why waste your time and money?

Also, what Emon said about Raptors--they're not worth the money for you (since you, you know, aren't running a server and nowadays there's better solutions) and you're paying for the brand more than you are anything else. Get a Seagate 500 for 100 bucks and sacrifice a few milliseconds of load times for 50 bucks of profit over your current setup, not to mention gaining 350 gigs to work with. Think about it logically.

Other than that it looks alright.

F.Edit: Don't get anything "superclocked" or "Factory overclocked" as it will just make you spend more money for no reason. You can overclock the cards yourself--make use of the resources you spent looking these items up and finding out what was good, and look into your own overclocking tools. Trust me, if you're that hardcore about not being stock, it's worth the time to save the cash.

Real Edit: This may come as a shocker, but when looking for video cards, Newegg isn't always the best place to find a deal. [url]www.pricegrabber.com[/url], [url]www.hardforum.com[/url] (specifically the FS/FT section), and anand's for sale/trade section in the forums are great places to go and find some hardware, and both Hardforum and Anand are ADAMANT about not trolling/selling faulty/misbranded hardware. I wouldn't count it out.

an antec that's never been used $40

Their right, stick with the factory heat sink. Are you going to get a monitor?

this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130325

again thanks for all the info my computer technology knowledge is a bit dated now, some of this i inferred from old brands and stuff i bought and heard about and some is judgement calls from friends.

I have a nice monitor already ill stick with this for the mean time :).

I don't know if eVGA has a lifetime warrant, but I know BFGTech does:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143119

Get that one.

5 dollars cheaper + same $30 mail in rebate + lifetime warranty can't go wrong there :).

2x SYBA 8" 8" Molex 4-pin Male to 15-pin SATA Power Cable Model SY-PWCB-$5.98

(ill probably need these for the HD since the power supply probably wont have sata power connectors most likely)

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-
$31.99

APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$64.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
$119.99

BFG Tech BFGE88512GTSE GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI
$309.99

2x G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual
$93.98


ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$149.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
$189.99

Subtotal: $966.90

ok that gives me ~35 to blow still is it worthwhile knocking the CPU up more ?

Get a Seasonic. Antec's PSUs have sucked horribly in the past.

this is the only CPU i could find in my new price range which is $15 over budget but seems to be a nice step up

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

wow what an improvement from the start, and the wolfdales are much nicer with the 45nm technology, boy learning so much last time i was going this i was debating on a 3400+ or a 3200+ lol.

Antecs are rebranded Seasonic units.

Uh, where in the world did you hear that nonsense? Every Antec PSU I've ever seen didn't even compare to Seasonic's units.

i bought the lite-on 20x ide version for 24.99 a month ago.. it came with no software/cables or anything but works like a charm with nero.. people complained of noise but I don't think it's that bad at all

Some Antecs rock, some suck.

Do yourself a favor and go ahead with the antec as long as it works. Then when you can, preferably before the PSU dies as they like to die violently and quickly (they tend to take **** with them--CPU, Mobo, Video card, et al) get an FSP or Seasonic PSU, depending on your price range and whatever you want out of a PSU.

im not really gunna stress about it i think , i've had a 400W "cooltech" PSU in this comp running 24/7 for almost 4 years straight now lol. The one that came in the case had a shotty fan in it so it just kept overheating. I clean the PSU pretty well every 2-3 months making sure its staying nice and cool just like everything else. I'm not gunna get ultra picky on it ya know? Everyone has a good or bad experience with certain components. As long as it works I think i'll be good :).

That's the thing--I've noticed a RASH of PSU's lately, even on the higher end, that have faulty 12v rails. You have to be VERY picky about your PSU otherwise you're gonna get a lot of noise on the rail and eventually it might fail altogether--this in the long run could mean failure of your other components too. Trust me, stress this item as much as you can economically do it, it's worth your money in the long run whether you believe it or not.

Noticed the higher end ones are more energy efficient too, so short term more expensive long run maybe save a couple bucks ;o

Well wondering when the Processor will be available in stock again, that's gunna hinder me ordering ><.

Going with a PSU of questionable quality is not a good idea, in fact, it's a horrible idea.

Unlike nearly every other part in your PC, a failure in your PSU can wreck absolute hell on your entire system. It's not like buying a crappy sound card, realizing it doesn't work, and just getting a new one. With the PSU, it may not work, and it'll take your whole system with it.

You never know what it's going to be unless you order FSP or Seasonic though. I've seen Antec, Rosewill, and OCZ PSU's that other people swear by all die on the 12v rail for some reason.

ok think this will fit in the budget

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151040

Looks good then man

That was sorta the point I was making...

I got a XFX 8800GT and it can run MOST areas of Crysis 30+FPS... which all in all isnt bad for a single card. The GT is a great card... GTS is a monster IMO.

Maybe but you gotta realize I was also referencing the fact that you could buy the same PSU that works just fine for one person and, bam, it doesn't work at all for you.

People use LightScribe much? I got that on my laptop but haven't really used it at all. I can't find the special CDs.