first build, having problems selecting components

[cptpooface]

I am going to be building a gaming rig soon and I desperately need some input and help. I am going to list the components I am planning on using and any questions I have about those components, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am looking to build the best gaming rig I can for $3000 to $3500.

Case: Planning on an asus vento 3600

MoBo: An asus sli ready. I do not know much about motherboards or what to look for when choosing one. I want to run sli and have a top of the line processor, other than that I don't know what else to say, or how the motherboard will effect game performance any help with this would be really appreciated.

CPU: At first I was planning on a Intel core 2 Extreme X6800 dual core 2.93GHz. I was planning on this because I thought it was the fastest and best processor out there. Since then I have heard that amd will soon be coming out with a quad core processor. I have also heard that amd has a system that runs more than one cpu resulting in much better results than a single dual core processor. I am really lost on and I have no idea what to do. Should I wait until the quad core processors come out, or use the Intel core extreme?

Video Cards: My problems with choosing a video card are much like the problem with choosing a processor. I am planning on using 2 geforce 9750 GX 2 1GB cards, in quad SLI mode. But again I have heard that both ati and nvidia are coming out with cards that will use directx 10, and be windows vista ready, and I have heard that they will be much better than those out now. I am also wondering if I am going a little overboard with the processor and the video cards, maybe I should just use 2 geforce 7900 512 MB and get a cheaper processor. The problem is that I want a gaming machine, that will be able to run all the latest games at top settings for as long as possible, and to not go obsolete for as long as possible. Whatever I have to do to achieve that I will do, that is why I want top of the line processors and video cards.

Hard drive: 300 GB hard drive. I don't understand the RAID setups or the raptor hard drives. I am planning on getting a 7200rpm where as the raptors go 10000rpm, I think. I don't know how much this will effect computer performance, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

RAM: Probably the only thing I am sure on, I want 2GB of RAM, probably Corsair as I have heard good things about them.

Primary and Secondary optical: I think that means dvd and cd drives. It will be easiest if I explain what I want to do with these. I want to be able to burn both cd's and dvd's, I want to be able to play both cd's and dvd's i.e music and game cd's, movie and game dvd's. The thing that matters the most to me is being able to burn a dvd straight from one drive to another. I have had a lot of problems lately burning dvd's. I have to use a program like dvdshrink to put the dvd stuff on the hard drive, then I have to put in a blank dvd and burn to it. With my last computer I could burn cd's by putting the source cd in one drive, and the blank cd in the other drive, then I could just burn them straight across. I really want to be able to do that with dvd's. Any help with this would be appreciated.

Sound card and speakers: This is where I expect to save a little money. I will either use the onboard sound card or get the cheapest sound blaster sound card I can get, I will also just get two regular speakers like I have now, left and right. My computer room is not really setup for surround sound. So I don't need to get all fancy with speakers and soundcards.

Keyboard and mouse: I will just get a $30 or $40 dollar mouse and keyboard from newegg or something. No big deal.

Modem and LAN: This is a problem spot as well. I will never use LAN so I know I don't need any LAN stuff. At least thats how I understand it, I could be wrong. What I have now is two computers, one upstairs and one downstairs. Upstairs is hooked up via wires from a wireless router. The wireless router is hooked up to the dsl modem and the downstairs computer connects to the internet with a wireless connection. All I need is for my computer to be able to hook up the the router or just straight to the dsl modem and connect to the internet. I don't know what I need to order to do this, please help.

Monitor: I will be looking at monitor review sites and then decide which monitor I should get, I want a 20 or 21 inch flat panel lcd.

OS and Extras: Don't need any, at least I don't think I do. I already have an os I can use. But I guess I am going to have to cool this hog somehow. Any reccommendations for cooling? I don't know what I will need.

PSU: I think this might refer to power supply, but I'm not sure, but I still need a power supply so here goes. I think a 600 watt power supply would do the trick, if I am wrong or you have any good suggestions or tips please let me know.

FDD: I have no idea what this refers to.

So there you go. I really need some help. I am trying to build a near top of the line gaming machine, I want to be able to run games at top settings for as long as possible. In regards to my questions about components, it would be great if someone could give me a specific part that would work best, but I know this rarely happens. There is so much selection out there that it is difficult to find "the best" I just need a nudge in the right directrion, any help would be greatly appreciated. I appologize for the lenght of the post.

[glc]

Hold off on your plans till the NForce 590 chipsets are sorted out, or go AMD if you must have SLI. You need a certified power supply, the list is at slizone.com. The Extreme 6800 is not worth it, the E6700 is almost as fast and half the price and even the E6600 screams. Just use a single Seagate 7200.10 hard drive of desired capacity.

Consider Crossfire on an Intel 975X chipset - such as the Asus P5W DH.

DVD copying is not a no brainer like CD copying.

FDD is floppy disk drive.