Totally New Build

[RowingMunkeyCU]

So I've been running my old system since before I went to college. I graduated college about a year ago and finally have enough money to build a computer. The problem is, it's been so long since my last system (to give you an idea, it's a 700MHz Duron with a ATI AIW 7500, that's right, I said Megahertz...) I haven't been able to play games on it for a while, but when I was playing them, it was the original Half Life, and Command and Conquer: Red Alert.

So this is primarily going to be for gaming. I'd like to play some FPSs and RPGs (maybe an MMORPG, never played before) and the new C&C3. Not too sure what other genres are out there... I'd also like to keep the total around $1500.

I'm looking at going with the following:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813188013

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145590

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148140

mushkin HP-580AP ATX12V / EPS12V 580W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817812004

EVGA 640-P2-N825-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SUPERCLOCKED HDCP Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130080

SAMSUNG 204B-BK Black 20.1" 5ms LCD Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824001226

Logitech MX3000 2-Tone RF Wireless Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16823126175


Here's the wishlist version:
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wi...ber=5487606&WishListTitle=New+Computer

I already have a Lian Li PC-60 case, a BenQ DW1650 DVD-RW burner, and a Creative 2.1 speaker system that I'm going to use.

So a couple of questions... does this look like a good build? Am I missing anything? Anything that I should change?

Side note: I have no idea how the whole 'latency' thing works for RAM.

 

[sjandrewbsme]

Are you planning to overclock? If not, the RAM you have is overkill. If you are, you should consider a third party cooler.

Do you plan to use SLI? If not, the MOBO is overkill (get a P965 or 650 based board and save upwards of $100).

I don't know anything about Mushkin power supplies. Check out Seasonic, Corsair, Enermax or PC Power and Cooling.

Do you have a sound card? The OB sound is usually pretty pathetic.

A quick explanation on the RAM latencies: the lower the faster. It's (in simple terms) a measure of how many steps are necessary for the RAM to perform an operation. The lower the number, the faster the RAM can perform an operation. That being said - these are generally only seen in benchmarks (i.e. you won't "feel" the difference between 5-5-5-15 and 4-4-4-12).

 

[zerogear]

Well, unless he has really exceptional headphone or speakers, I personally don't see the point of spending extra money on a sound card.

 

[RowingMunkeyCU]

Well, I can understand them being a bit of overkill, I'd like to be able to OC in the future (I've just never done it before), and I'd also like to try and make it a bit 'Future resistant'.

From the reviews of the mobo, I've read that the onboard sound on this one is actually pretty decent (I also have an older pci SB Live! that I might pull from my current machine). My speakers aren't top of the line, but they do pretty well (for a cheap 2.1).


On the RAM latencies, is the last digit a sum of the previous?