New Build Advice

[BoomerSoonerOKU]

First off, you guys have a great forum here. I've been lurking for a while and have learned a lot and hope to learn a lot more. It's time for me to upgrade and I decided to try my hand at building my own.

This rig will be my main machine. I do a bit of gaming (MMO's mostly, namely Vanguard right now which has very high spec requirements), lots of photo editing/processing, and then just general use.

I'll list what I've picked out and then I have a few questions.

Case - COOLER MASTER CM Stacker STC-T01-UW Black/ Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119042)

Mobo - ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131070)

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115003)

PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817139001)

RAM - CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145034)

HD - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136003)

DVD - LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 8X DVD-R DL 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM IDE Burner with LightScribe Technology - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827106045)

Video - Leadtek PX7600 GT Geforce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814122245)

Monitor - SCEPTRE X20WG-Naga Black 20.1" 5ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 Built in Speakers - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824112006)

OS - Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 SP2B with Vista Upgrade Coupon - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16832116179)


Ok, there it is. Now for the questions:


Any compatibility issues that I missed?
Is the power supply sufficient? What if I want to add another hard drive or two?
I currently have an ATI AIW 128MB Video Card. Would it be worth it to use this card as a placeholder until the other dx10 cards come out, or would you suggest going with the card listed for a reasonable price/performance boost until then?
Does anyone have any experience with a LCD monitor with these kind of specs while gaming? This will be my first LCD and that has me a bit worried.
Are there any changes I could make that would save a bit of cash while not dramatically reducing performance?
Any issues with going with the 64bit OS? I had heard of problems with drivers with the XP version, but with Vista being out now I assume most of these will be taken care of or on their way.


Any help/advice you guys could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[glc]

1. Looks good, but I prefer a SATA optical on a P965.
2. That power supply can power any single video card rig out there.
3. Only if it's PCI-E. If you buy a 7600GT, there's a BFG at the Egg with a $50 rebate.
4. Today's LCD's game well.
5. I'd get a Seagate 7200.10 drive instead of a WD for performance and warranty reasons. If you must cut costs, you could get Value Select DDR2-667 ram (you will never notice the difference if you won't be overclocking) and/or drop to a E6300 or E6400. If you want to wait till April, Intel is dropping Core 2 prices significantly and replacing the E6300 and E6400 with double cache models.
6. XP64 driver support is still pretty nasty.

[BoomerSoonerOKU]

Thanks for the response, glc. I switched over to the Seagate per your recommendation. As for the older video card, alas, it's AGP so I decided to stick with the 7600GT, but thanks a load for the tip on the BFG. You just saved me 50 bucks. All the SATA opticals seem to be out of stock at the moment, so I'll just stick with my old IDE until I can land one of those as well.

Anyways, it's been ordered.. Now I play the waiting game. Again, thanks for the tips!