Econo Gaming Rig Suggestions

[ArmyMirage]

As the title says I'm looking to build a new gaming rig but I'd like to keep it around $500-600 if at all possible. The last time I built a computer was over 5 years ago so I am so far behind what is good now a days, so I thought I'd seek some help.
I've been told as of today Intel and Nvidia are the leaders for reliability and quality, while I've always thought AMD and ATI where the gold standard for the longest time. With all that said here is what I would like to include in my system.

-64bit compatible Intel Core 2 Duo
-2 or 4 gigs of RAM
-Current leading affordable SLI compatible VPU, (I really just WANT the ability to upgrade to SLI, I dont NEED it for the initial build.)
-Large Tower with plenty of expansion room along with a good Mobo to fit and accept all the room for expansion.
-A fast primary harddrive (I already have plenty of smaller 80 gigs just lying around to supplement the main drive for media. Or if it's not really a good idea to break up hard drives for different media then one large drive could suffice.)
-Ample Powersupply
-And lastly Vista 64, I know this will be a good chunk of change but I am willing to tack that on as extra from the 500-600 price for the components themselves.

I already have a great sound card as well as amazing speakers and dual 22" LCD flat panels, so the core components I've stated are all I'm really looking at.

Thanks for taking the time to look over this and steer me in the right direction. I know it seems like I'm being lazy and just asking someone to pick the parts but I honestly no longer really even know where to start.


EDIT: I was looking to have the System up and ready by mid-September (warhammer online) so if there is anything interesting on the horizon or perhaps a wave of price drops, I'm willing to wait.

[Krazeee]

There are a number of sites out there that do System builder guides that would probably be a good read if you're interested in that sort of thing. Tom's Hardware does one and so does Tech Report. There are probably others, but those are two that I frequent.

Here are links to their econobox suggested builds:

Tom's Econobox

Tech Reports Econobox

Personally, I am pretty picky when it comes to my components, and I don't usually like picking components that are essentially 2 or 3 generations back so here's what I put together at Newegg for a bit more.

GIGABYTE P35 Motherboard - $84.99 A solid board with most features people need.

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 512MB Video Card - $174.99 ATI recently released this bad boy, and it's hands down the best deal at the sub $200 price range. It's obviously not SLI, which you had said you'd want, but to be honest, I had the same thought as you when I built my rig, and I have yet to bother adding a second Vid Card. Besides, if you're really interested in going the multi-gpu route, you can get another one of these and put them in Crossfire mode.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz - $174.99 One of the best processors out right now.

CORSAIR 450W Power Supply - $74.99 Recommended by AnandTech this will provide all the power you need for quite some time.

Seagate 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 Hard Drive - $59.99 Slightly faster than the similar offering from Western Digital though some people have found the Seagate to be a bit louder, but not by much.

G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $44.99 Over 2k reviews and still 5 Eggs

COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 Mid Tower Case - $52.99 Cooler Master makes some of the best budget cases out there as far as I'm concerned...this is just one I picked out.

Total comes to $667.93. This is obviously a bit over your budget goal, but I have a tough time dropping to a lower priced item when the performance takes such a hit. For example, the CPU I chose is 3ghz, and it was only $5 dollars more than the model below it at 2.66ghz. You could save yourself $5 and OC the 2.66 up to 3ghz easily enough...but why? The video card is a place where you could cut some costs, but that card is such a sweet deal at $175!

Intel does have some new tech coming out in Sept or so, which may bring some pricing down, but who knows. There are just so many ways to go when it comes to computer parts. Good luck with the build!

[ArmyMirage]

So here is a slightly modified version of your list. My question is with this do you think I'll have any heat issues? Will the stock heatsink/fan on the CPU be enough coupled with the ram and vid card in fairly close proximity? I'm not familiar with COOLER MASTER cases so I have no idea how they perform.

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COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $52.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $59.99

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 $86.50

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard $84.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 $174.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD $109.99

EVGA 512-P3-N800-TR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Thermaltake TR2 RX W0134RU ATX12V Ver2.2 550W Power Supply $204.98 (Combo w/ Vid Card)

Subtotal: $774.43
Shipping: $27.96
Rebates: -$40.00
Grand Total: $762.39 ($652.39 before Vista)

[cantputt04]

For 10 bucks more you should bump up to the Radeon HD 4870. It out performs the 8800 GT in every aspect by a good amount.