My first build - please review!

[cobx9]

I've been lurking for about three weeks now, so I think I have the general idea of what I should be using for my parts, I will list them below. Please add suggestions as to whether I am choosing (most importantly) compatiable and (next importantly) appropriate parts. Here is the main idea of what I want to do with this computer -

I work for an insurance company and use access and excel to manipulate large sets of data, so first and foremost I want this machine to be an able number cruncher. Second, I spent a lot of time back in my college days playing FPS (Half-Life/Team Fortress was my game of choice) and would like to get back into some of those kind of games at some point (I don't even know what the popular FPS games are nowadays, how weak have I become...). Also with respect to gaming, I would like to have the option open of overclocking if I choose to do so. And last, and this is mainly for the future of this build, I would like this machine to be capable of doing some quality video editing, so basically I want to build something now that is upgradable, specifically in the graphics or video i/o department. I've purchased the "build your own pc" book from pcMech and read through it once. I think I'm now ready to order the parts and get started. My budget is $1800. Here's what I (tentatively) have chosen -

Case: LIAN LI PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 119.99

I've heard good things about Lian-Li, and really liked the quality of this case, there were other cheaper ones that people have recommended here, but they looked, well, cheap

PSU: ASUS Atlas A-55GA ATX12V 2.0 550W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail 104.99

This is one of my unknowns, 550W seemed to be the minimum recommended on these forums and ASUS is on the "good" list I believe

Mobo: ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 150.99

The P5B is the most recommended board here, I feel I didn't need the deluxe, and it goes well with the...

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail 317.00

This seems like the easiest choice, great performance, value, and definitely leaves the door open for OC'ing in the future.

HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KSRTL 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Retail 131.99

There are a ton of OEM HDDs on newegg, are these worth the risk to save some $? Not too sure on this choice. Seems fine, but a bit on the expensive side.

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail 280.00

2GB is necessary for access and excel to run at reasonable speeds for me.

Optical: 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 37.99

Seem ok? I know everyone loves Lite-on here.

Vid Card: eVGA 256-P2-N541-T2 GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail 104.99

The standard "something to get me by until DX10"

Monitor: SAMSUNG 940BX Black 19" 5ms DVI LCD Monitor with Height Adjustments 300 cd/m2 1000:1 - Retail 239.99

The monitor really puts a dent in my spending capabilities, but I don't own an LCD and I think this is a really nice one. What are the advantages of widescreen? Do games run on widescreen mode nowadays? I couldn't think of more pros than cons for the widescreen action, so I went with the regular dimensions.

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2b 1pk w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista - OEM 139.99



Any suggestions? Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions you can give. -JB

[flanzig1]

Asus is a good motherboard brand but their PSUs are in the unknown region.
Check this sticky for the good/bad in PSUs: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195
Hard drives: Go with the Seagate 7200.10 series/long warranty, almost as fast as 10k rpm drives.
Standard size 19" monitors can be found under $200/check the Sunday ads for sales at a local brick and morter store.

[glc]

Get an OEM Seagate 7200.10 SATA hard drive.

If you are planning on upgrading to DX10, get this PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001