Some help deciding good items to build a computer

[J Dog The 3rd]

So for now im trying to keep a $1200 budget
Going to be using the game for a bit of gaming; Cs:S, Age of Conan, Battlefield 2, battlefield 2142 and others.
Going to be buying most of my stuff by the 5th of june..Kinda would like to stick with an Intel proc, other than that not a fan boy of any particular brand.
Im not going to be using any old items in this computer starting fresh.
Wanna leave the option open later for a 8800GTS setup with more ram involved also


Mobo:XFX 780i Sli socket LGA 775
http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16813141005

Proc: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16819115043

Video Card: Msi Geforce 8800GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127325

Ram: G.Skill DDR2 800 2X2GB
http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16820231122

Psu: Corsair 620w Modular
http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16817139002

Hdd's: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS (X2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822148262




Moving to General Hardware as you will have better responses from there about system builds.
Narse
Anandtech Computer Help Moderator

 

[ther00kie16]

people would normally recommend a q6600 or q9450 as opposed to q9300, but that depends on your needs and whether or not you plan to overclock.
for the video card, you could get the ECS for the same price but it also has a $50 rebate.
for ram, the GSkill's 1000 is the same price as the 800.
PSU: buy.com is $20 cheaper not counting 5% off coupon (google is your friend) or googlecheckout
hard drive: 640gb & 750gb are both less than the cost of 2 250gb.

 

[DSF]

What size is your monitor? SLI is likely to be a waste of money.

therookie's suggestions are all good, and I would even recommend getting an E8400 instead of a quad since this computer is going to be predominantly gaming. I would definitely go with the WD 640GB drive over the pair of Seagates you chose, which are a generation old.

 

[J Dog The 3rd]

I kinda did some research and im kinda set on the quad-core Q9300. It will mainly be used for gaming but i will also be doing some video encoding and what not.

My reasoning for picking those two hdd's was because they use a single platter design -http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/758568
What would be the difference in the Gskill 1000 over the 800? the xfx mobo supports 800?
Why would the size of my monitor make sli useless? Im not being a smart @$$ but i've been outta building a computer sense pent 4's

 

[DSF]

SLI is only necessary on large monitors. (24" and larger, really.)

As far as RAM, there's nothing wrong with DDR2-800. If you're planning on overclocking though, DDR2-1000 will allow you to go farther.

The WD Hard Drive has two 320GB platters, which is even better than a single 250. It's a higher performance drive than those outdated Seagates, period.