New PC idea, what should I get now.

[dbzakj]

Hey all. I've been thinking about building my own rig for a while now, looking around and stuff. I have some experience with parts, I've installed a graphics card, RAM, and a hard drive in the pc I'm using now. If I build a new pc I want it to be pretty good for gaming, surfing the net, listening to music, that kinda thing. I'm thinking about going dual core since I heard thats what newer games may take advantage of, and that's better for multitasking.
I have $1000 to spend max.
What parts should I get? I hear that AMD X2's are the hot topic, and intel is NOT BAD but not as good as AMD. I hear that athlon's run hot, what kind of cooling should I get for that kind of cpu? I would want atleast a 200 gb hard drive, not sure what to get though. I'm looking at the ASUS premium mobo for sli in the future. Not so sure about graphics card, stuck around the 6800 gs~7800 gt/x area. Not sure about the case and psu. I would also want a dvd burner but I'll get that in the future.

I already have a monitor (19" liquidvideo flatpanel), 1 gig ddr400 RAM (2x 512 kingston), and a dvd-rom drive that I am willing to take from the computer I am currently on.

I realize that's a lot of info, I appreciate any help you guys can give me.

[jayb1234]

Motherboard. PSU and video card from this list.

The Antec TPII 550W would be a good choice and Antec has several cases without PSUs that you could put it in.

This is the best deal for price/performance you will find right now for the hard drive.

Here is a nice burner from one of the better makers.

Operating system.

Dual core would be the best choice, since the gamemakers are starting to release games that use it.

Skip the sound card for now, the motherboard will have pretty good integrated 8 channel sound, and you can add a card later if you want.

[Cricket]

Since you already have a gig of DDR400 you'll have to go with a AMD based computer because the newer INTEL setups require DDR2.

Cricket

[not important]

I just finished a new build with an Intel board that uses DDR. Asus and Intel (maybe some others) have them avavilable using the 915 chipset.

[dbzakj]

can the amd x2's overheat and fry? I know intel has the auto-shutoff thing but from what I heard, the older amd's fry if not properly cooled.

[USMDude]

Originally Posted by dbzakj can the amd x2's overheat and fry? I know intel has the auto-shutoff thing but from what I heard, the older amd's fry if not properly cooled.

Well then make sure it's properly cooled, lol. No, seriously, your best bet to make sure you don't overheat is use thermal paste on the pro and heatsink/fan combo, but only do that once you've run your computer once or twice to see what the cpu temps are and only if the temps are too high at baseline (at least 45-50 C). Cooling has gotten a lot better in the past few years, and with the right setup of stock products you can keep your system pretty cool under normal conditions.

[dbzakj]

I'll take that as a yes

[Cricket]

Yes, the early Socket A Athlons and Durons were known to fry themselves to death if the heatsink wasn't installed properly, but that was years ago. I believe the newer AMD processors have a thermal circuit that will shut the system down if the processor temps go too high. I haven't heard much about the X2s yet but the Athlon 64s are running pretty cool. As long as the heatsink is installed properly and the case cooling is good I don't think you have to worry about overheating and frying the CPU. I don't recall hearing of anyone frying a Athlon 64 or X2.

Cricket