Gaming PC Build

[Quantum]

I'm thinking about building a PC. This is what I have planned so far:

Details:
CPU, Motherboard, Video Card, RAM, Hard Drive, Case, Power Supply

For about $650 with shipping and after rebates (edit: $750 including Vista Home Premium), I feel that it's a pretty good deal. I don't need to get a monitor, optical drives, speakers, or mouse/keyboard, as I'm using old components for those. Am I forgetting anything else I need for a complete system? I'm going for a PC that can handle almost all games (don't care much for Crysis, but definitely want to run NWN2, UT3, and HL2 with sufficient eye-candy), but is as inexpensive as possible while still using reliable and well-reviewed components.

I'm mainly worried about compatibility. I've got most of the basics matched up (socket 775, DDR2 800, SATA 3.0Gb/s, etc.), but is there some detail that I'm overlooking that would cause trouble with this setup?
I decided to get the 250GB HDD because I heard that 8MB cache isn't enough for Vista; is this true?
Is that power supply overkill?
Any suggestions as to better parts to choose? Potential bottlenecks?

 

[slayerspud]

Everything looks fine, but there are a few things you should consider.

1) Why have you chosen a SLI motherboard, yet only use one graphics card. It would be better to get a motherboard such as the P35-DS3L for half the price, and add the money to get an 8800 GTS 512MB. What resolution are you gaming at?

2) According to tomshardware, that rosewill power supply isn 't very good. Personally I would go for something such as this corsair PSU, which is known to give really good performance.

3) If you have got a bit more money left, I would try and get one of the newer 32B Cache hard drives, as these give performance similar to raptors but are much cheaper.

4) Finally, I would get an aftermarket heatsink such as this xixmatek , which is currently the best cooler around, and would allow you overclock to your CPU to 3.5, easily.

 

[Quantum]

1) Well I originally picked that motherboard because it had PCI-E 2.0 support. But after asking around on another forum and discovering that 2.0 is pointless, I've now switched to the EP35-DS3L, which is identical to what you recommended, only just a newer, more energy-efficient version.

2) Yeah, since my original post I've switched to the Corsair 550VX

3) Is there a big difference between 16MB and 32MB? I heard that 16MB is very beneficial for Vista, but will going to 32MB give me a significant performance boost?

4) That thing is huge! I'm not as concerned with overclocking and heat. I picked the Zerotherm because it's cheap, very quiet, and gets the job done. Also, the Intel stock HSF apparently motherboard-breaking attachment design.

I've also switched to G.Skill 2x2GB

 

[xJonny]

I've not heard of Rosewill myself (in England) but Corsair PSUs are among the best, so good choice.

If you want a cheap hsf, I recommend the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro or the Coolermaster Hyper TX 2.

 

[furbyhaterex]

I know you can always wait for better hardware, but right now I'd really recommend you to wait 1-2 months until the new nvidia/ati gpus are out. Even if you stick with the last gen, they'll probably get cheaper.
Otherwise it's looking good, have fun! ;-)

 

[mooo]

I've not heard of Rosewill myself (in England) but Corsair PSUs are among the best, so good choice.

If you want a cheap hsf, I recommend the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro or the Coolermaster Hyper TX 2.
Rosewill is Newegg's in-house brand. Their stuff is okay, but not too sturdy in the long run. For something as critical as the power supply, I would definitely be forced to go with a branded option.

QUOTE(furbyhaterex @ May 27 2008, 09:42 AM) I know you can always wait for better hardware, but right now I'd really recommend you to wait 1-2 months until the new nvidia/ati gpus are out. Even if you stick with the last gen, they'll probably get cheaper.
Otherwise it's looking good, have fun! ;-)

It's sound advice, but you're going to have to jump on buying something eventually. Waiting for future price drops for stuff like PC building will lead you into the endless cycle of waiting for price drops.