Components picked out, please critique

[Reynard]

First off, I'd like to thank Anandtech and their forum-goers for helping me get this far. You guys have been great at helping me survive in the deep end of handware specs. I'll be as brief as I may and just start listing components and related concerns. Please let me know if I'm overspending/bottlenecking on anything. In particular I'm waffling a little on the RAM, PSU and Hard Drive, and a lot on the mobo and case.

Core components
CPU, $190 - Core 2 Duo E8400 3Ghz. No surprises.
GPU, $200 - Radeon 4850. No surprises.
RAM, $90 - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail.
Mobo, $120 - GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail. I hope this is what I want... I really don't know how to compare mobos at all.
PSU, $120 - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail. Probably more watts than I'll ever need.
Case, $140 - Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail. Kind of big and very pricey, gray is my favorite color and I like the austere look, but I will tell myself "function over form" if there's anything I ought to switch to.
Hard Drive, $60 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM. I've heard WD does good stuff too.
Optical, $29 - SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM. Lots of similar rated/priced models to choose from, hoping this one is good.
CPU cooler, $44 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail. Decided to overclock at least a little, just for fun. Picked up an alternate attachment thingummy from Sidewinder. I'm hoping the bigarse case I'm buying can hold this guy...
That's about $950 worth of computer.

Other stuff
Monitor, $400 - BenQ G2400WD Black 24" 5ms, 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail. Yay for splurging.
Vista Home Premium, $100 - I think this is the edition I want.
And a new mouse, speakers, keyboard, the whole shebang.

Yeesh... well... anything? Looks like my total bill is going to come out to $1600.

 

[Reynard]

Oh, right, and some Arctic Silver 5 stuff. Also, I don't have any spare parts, this being my first build-it-yourself computer... Am I going to be missing any cables for my OEM components?

 

[modoheo]

Looks good, except I'd get a bigger HD, since 250 gigs is going to start to feel small in a hurry most likely. I'm partial to Western Digital, just from consistent good past experience. The WD AAKS 640gig unit is particularly nice - good price, very quiet and speedy.

Since it's your first build and you don't have extra cables/parts laying around, I'd buy a couple extra long SATA cables (since that case is big) and couple extra (quiet) 120 mm case fans (scythe makes a lot of nice ones).

Since you plan to overclock, when you install the mobo drivers, uncheck DES (dynamic energy saver) - that software saves energy but makes it harder to get a stable overclock.

Instead of AS5, which is great, at this point I'd go with Arctic Coolings MX-2 - it's non-conductive (so won't fry your mobo if you screw up and drip some on the board), doesn't require 'curing' or a burn-in time, and works equally well.

Otherwise, looks terrific; have fun!

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Nice build! I agree with the recommendation for the WD640AAS, almost 3x the space, fastest 7200rpm drive available, and only $40 more

And that mobo is great as long as you don't need firewire or onbard raid, I have one.

 

[Reynard]

Alrighty. Threw in a couple 18" SATA cables, switched the cooling goo, and even though I'm a very sparing hard drive storage user (I'm working on 40GB right now) I figure I can afford the quality of the WD HD. I'll put in the final order tonight... any last minute adjustments from anyone?

I need to go browsing around Best Buy to check out the mouses... meeces... mices... whatever! Figure out what fits me. My friend has a Logitech MX400 that I thought was really comfy...

 

[Urtho]

Random comments:

1. DDR2-1066 is overkill for your needs, those sticks are only for the most extreme overclockers who are pushing for the maximum possible overclock. Save yourself $5 and get these sticks HERE instead. You could get DDR2-800 sticks even but they're the same price as the -1000 kits.

2. PSU is indeed more than you need, but if you want to spend a little extra $ for some headroom and peace of mind it's up to you. There are modular cable versions from Corsair in 520W and 620W flavors that you might want to consider as well.

3. Agreed with the others on changing your HD choice. It's not just the space increase, although that is considerable, but the speed advantages of that drive are very noticable. It's also very quiet which is important to many people.

Rest of your choices seem fine or are personal taste types of choices such as your case and mouse. Find something there you like to use everyday and look at when you use your system and you're all set. Have fun with it.