Need help building a gaming rig

[Zero 7]

Let me apologize straight away for making another "help me with my setup" thread, but this is my first build and I want to make sure I'm not doing anything silly.

A few things:
1) I'll mostly be using my new PC for gaming.
2) I'm not sure if I'll be overclocking, since I've never done it before. I won't say I'm ruling it out entirely, but it's not a high priority for me.
3) My budget is around $2000-$2500, but about $500 of that is going towards a Dell 2005FPW LCD monitor.

Here's what I'm looking at so far (all from Newegg):

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM ($128)
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3800BPBOX - Retail ($385)
Patriot 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PDC1G3200LLK - Retail ($130)
COOLER MASTER TAC-T01-E1C Silver Aluminum Alloy ATX Mid Tower Case without Power Supply - Retail ($130)
Pioneer DVR-109 Black IDE DVD Burner - OEM ($59)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ ST380017AS 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM ($62)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM ($130)
Antec NeoPower ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail ($116)
CREATIVE Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - OEM ($70)

My total so far (with tax, shipping, and some various odds and ends) is right around $1500.

The main advice I need is on a video card. I definitely want something PCI-E and I'm leaning towards ATi. I'm not too interested in SLI right now either. I was considering a Sapphire X850XT but I don't know if I'd feel right dropping $500 on a video card. I was looking at cheaper alternatives like an X850 Pro or maybe an X800XL. Any thoughts?

I'm not too sure about cooling. Since I'm not overclocking anytime soon, will the stock cooling in the A64 retail box be sufficient? And for that matter, will the power supply be good enough?

Also, I want to get two SATA Seagate hard drives so I can have one to store documents, music, pictures, etc. and one to keep system and program files. Will I be okay running them together? I'm not going to be doing RAID or anything like that, so there shouldn't be any issues with installing them and recognizing them as seperate drives, right? Sorry if this question is a little vague, but I've never run a multi-HD system before.

Like I said, this is my first build, so if anything's blatantly incompatible or I'm just flat-out forgetting something, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[imported_Kensai]

Get an x800XL for ~300$ USD. I'd suggest an XP-90 with a low speed panaflo for silence.
Your HDs will work together.

Welcome to the forums too.

 

[Ike0069]

Welcome to AT.
It seems you have done some research. This setup looks very good.

I'm guessing you already have speaker, but if you don't have 5.1 speakers, I would suggest getting some. IMO, 5.1 really imroves the gaming experience.

My choice for a VC is the 6800 GT.
But if you want ATI, the X800XL is the best deal out (especially for PCI-e cards).
Everything looks very good.

 

[MobiusPizza]

X800XL is the most cost efficient card right now.
Get X800XL it will serve you fine for 2 years. By then you can get new generation graphic cards that support WGF 2.0 for longhorn

Get Logitech® Z-5500 Digital 5.1 speakers if you can afford it; otherwise Z-5300e should be great as well
Speaking of Logitech you might want a MX518 gaming mouse from them

 

[Silversierra]

"Pioneer DVR-109 Black IDE DVD Burner - OEM ($59) "
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1591893&enterthread=y

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX
X800XL is the most cost efficient card right now.
Get X800XL it will serve you fine for 2 years. By then you can get new generation graphic cards that support WGF 2.0 for longhorn

Get Logitech® Z-5500 Digital 5.1 speakers if you can afford it; otherwise Z-5300e should be great as well
Speaking of Logitech you might want a MX518 gaming mouse from them

A 2000 dollar budjet and you say an x800xl?!:Q With that kind of budget, he could get dual 6800gts!

 

[imported_rod]

ATI Radeon X800XL seems to be the best value high performance card out there at the moment. The 6800GT is also good, but if your not interested in SLI stick with the Radeon.

The stock cooler is enough, although it's not going to be the quietest option. A thermaltake XP-90 or XP-120 with a Panaflo fan will reduce noise, and let you OC later if you want.

Don't bother with 5.1 sound for your PC if you already have a surround sound sytem in the room the computer will be in. I have my PC hooked up to a small 2.1 logitech set for general use, and i use my Pioneer sound system when i want surround sound for games.

A good K/B and mouse is also important. Microsoft and Logitech both make great Keyboards and Mice. The Logitech MX-510/MX-518 are great gaming mice, and the MX-1000 is good if you want to go wireless.

Everything else looks good.
BtW: nice choice on the DVD burner.

RoD

 

[Mark2582]

X800XL is an excellent choice. However, if you want to spend about $100 more and are willing to overclock the video card, the Leadtek 6800GT will get you Ultra speeds easily. I was in the same dilema as you: The Leadtek 6800GT seems like a nice step between the X800XL and the X850XT. The X800XL is still an excellent card, but if you want to spend $100 more and are willing to overclock, the 6800GT will give you a noticable performance boost with AA/AF.

 

[w00t]

get the x800xl
for psu i would get ocz modstream 450w
o and ditch that 3800+ get 3200+ you have the ram why not.

 

[Zero 7]

Thanks for the responses everyone, it's all been very helpful.

I am picking up a set of Logitech 5.1 speakers, so the sound aspect should be okay.

I think I'm going with a Sapphire X850XT. It only puts me about $50 overbudget and since I'm trying to build a solid gaming rig, I figure the video card is the last thing I should skimp on.

As for the cooling, I'll stick to the stock sink and fan for now; if it's unbearably loud when I set it up I guess I'll have to upgrade.

Thanks again for all the feedback.