Firstly, have a look at Wes' review of the 90nm processors -- you can extrapolate that the 3200+ falls somewhere right between the 3000+ and the 3500+ in the charts (roughly) --
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242 ... what you'll need to determine is if that extra little bit is worth it to you or not for the price increase. To me, personally, I plan on going with either the 3000 or 3200 and o/c-ing it up to 4000 levels so I don't really gain much from the extra $$$ required for the 3500. This completely depends upon what you're wanting to do with it, however, and what your budget looks like, but just something I thought I'd point out.
Secondly, check out this thread that shows very very little difference between "high-performance" and "value" RAM --
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=1475190&enterthread=y ... something like these Mushkin sticks would be plenty fine (
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...ion=20-146-299&depa=0)
Thirdly, unless you're going to be running one of the games that nVidia has optimized in drivers for SLI (
nZone link ) you'd be better off going with a 6800GT instead of the 2x6600GT route (
http://www.pcper.com/article.p...=99&type=expert&pid=9), as the ones on that list are the ONLY ones that will benefit from SLI, which is something that most reviews fail to mention -- by "benefit" here, I mean actually show a marked increase by using SLI technology. Sure, as the drivers progress more games will be added, but if you really really enjoy an out-of-mainstream game you should realize that you'll probably be running it only on a 6600GT and not an SLI'd setup.
Fourthly, if you feel the need to go with the WD Raptors, I'd recommend going with the 74GB versions, as not only are they larger but have faster access times as well. For most common desktop applications that you'll be running in a standard home environment, though, you will NOT notice much of an improvement from regular SATA/7200RPM to the Raptors (even in RAID-0) --
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101
Fifthly, with regards to the Audigy 2 ZS, there's going to be lots of people on both sides of the argument. There are plenty of reviews out there for this particular card (
http://www.google.com/search?h...ew&btnG=Google+Search), but the important thing to remember is that your sound is only going to be as good as the weakest component -- if you're pairing this card with a pair of off-the-shelf 2.0 $10 speakers, expect to get $10 sound. Unless you're a semi-serious audiophile (note that serious audiophiles would not even be talking about the Audigy 2 ...) and willing to spend several hundred on some nice-quality speakers, I'd hazard a guess that the onboard sound would be decently good enough.
Sixthly, that's the same powersupply that I was looking at getting, so I don't suppose I can say too much bad about it
...
As for cooler, unless you're really planning on doing overclocking (or you want to jazz up the inside of your window'd case), the stock retail HSF from AMD should function plenty fine. It'll also function good if you're looking at doing mild overclocking. The folks over at ViperLair just did a review of this HSF, actually (
http://www.viperlair.com/revie...heatsinks/asus/stice/) and they seem pretty impressed with it. It is rather large, however, and that's something to keep in mind. If you're specifically looking for large well-cooling HSFs, then I'd also suggest taking a look at Thermalright's XP-120, which is an absolute behemoth (ViperLair review --
http://www.viperlair.com/revie...s/thermalright/xp120/).
With regards to your case, this is such a hard topic to provide opinions on as most of them are just that -- opinions. Find a case that looks nice to you, has what you're looking for in the way of front ports and expansion possibilities, is made of decent quality construction and materials. Extras like a removable motherboard tray, removable HDD cages, etc. are nice but certainly not a requirement. Above all, make sure that it provides decent airflow and that you're happy with its aesthetics, as you're (hopefully) not going to be fiddling with the insides too much after you get it all put together. Personally, I'm an Enermax (and now Lian-Li) guy, but like I said, that's just me and everyone will have different tastes.
Phew ... long post, but I hope it helps you (and others) out some!
Facebook
Twitter