Build Parts outline

[woosmaster]

Hey guys, I have done some research and have a list of parts with some unclear decisions that you can hopefully help me with. I am going for a decent gaming PC (let's just say...play oblivion on decent settings?) for around $1000, plus a monitor. Here's what I have so far:

Case (with 500w power supply):

Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W power supply

Motherboard (very unsure):

ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

OR

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

OR

ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

OR

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

OR

ASUS P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

*I realize that these need to match up w/ other parts so i will have to chose this accordingly, but if you guys have any tips on deciding on a mobo any info would be great

CPU (also very undecided):

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor

OR

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor

OR

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6550

OR

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model EU80570PJ0806M

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250620A 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

RAM:

CORSAIR 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory - Retail

Optical Drive:

ASUS Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T - Retail

Video Card (very undecided):

XFX PVT84JUSD4 GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

*THat is just the first one that came up and it got good reviews. I'm looking for somehting that will run well but nothing too expensive or hardcore. Not sure what route to take here, but I know my mobo's support NVIDIA.

Sound Card:
Integrated (i think)

I have a keyboard, mouse, and will shop for other peripherals later.

My questions are, am I missing anything crucial? Will this run smoothly and be nice and cool or do i have to get other cooling mechanisms? Any other tips would be great. Thanks a lot.

[flanzig1]

Would go with one of the P5K boards(pick the one with the options you want).
Get the Seagate 7200.11. Bigger on-board cache.
An E6750 is the sweet spot for bang for the buck. The E8400 is good also.
Go with DDR2 800, better matches the CPU.
For the video card, I'll let others comment. Not up on gaming cards.

[alex530]

First of all, you need to decide if you are going with Intel or AMD, as that will affect your choice of motherboard. Currently Intel is the better buy. That being said, I'd so with a P5K-E, spending more money on a motherboard that is SLI compatible when you're not going to be using it is a waste of money. I'd go with an E6750 processor. The HDD you picked out is a good brand, but it's IDE. You'll want to look for one that is the newer SATA format. Bump the RAM up to DDR2 800. I'd look for a optical drive that is 20X for DVD's. Lite-On is usually recommended here, although there is nothing wrong with an Asus. Since the main purpose of your build is gaming, I would not skimp too much on the video card. Look for something like an 8800GT or 8800GTS. Hope this helps.