Here's what I think you should Do
Get an AMD system. Reason, cheaper. Overclocks very well. The Mobile 2600+ XP is what you want. It may be a 2GHZ CPU, BUT, when you overclock this sucker it'll go to 2.7 with good air, higher with watercooling!!! Then, Go with a ABIT NF7-S motherboard for stability, or if you want to get the very most out of your system, go with the DFI INFINITY motherboard. Does EXTREMELY Well overclocking and gives you a ton of overclocking features. It allows higher voltage to memory so thats a bonus. Next, A good POWER SUPPLY UNIT, ANTEC or ANY other that you favor, AT LEAST a 430. TRY A 550w cause it'll last you till your next system if you want to change. SOUND CARD, you don't need, intergrated sound does quite well on abit boards, not so sure on DFI. GRAPHICS CARD...this a good one. MY favorite, the Saphire 9800 pro 128MB and MAKE SURE ITS 256bit!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE SURE, then you can overclock that to 9800XT SPEEDS. BAM, saved some money there already. Plus, its still an awesome GPU, and its getting slightly cheaper these days, only 30-50$ more than the 9600XT, depending on where you get them. 9800pro, a definate buy. The case, I REPEAT, IF YOU DO NOT CARE HOW IT LOOKS ON THE OUTSIDE, and only care for good air flow, DO NOT WASTE, I REPEAT, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON A CASE THAT LOOKS FANCY with all those multi color fans, glass/plastic window, fancy color/design, or temperature readout. I SWEAR, people when they start spending they just don't know when to stop. Then again, I mean its really up to you, its entirely YOUR decesion, YOUR preferance. The only think that is critical and key for a case is, AIRFLOW. THAT AND THAT ALONE WILL HELP YOUR SYSTEM, NOT HOW IT LOOKS!!!!!!!!!! I myself was about to buy something fancy and said, F*** this, let me look around and find something that offers the same amount of airflow, but for cheaper, and without a POWER SUPPLY that they offer wich is usually crappy anyway. With lots of hard work, I found one that suited my needs. Simple design, good number of fans, and without a power supply(bonus)! Cause really dude, there's always gonna be some dude at those lan party's that outstages you all, but what will make you really feel good is the HUNDRED DOLLARS you saved compared to his and you have about the same cooling he does. WOW, common sense. I mean, all that hard earned money making minimum wage or whatever you make...better put it to good use, don't throw it away. I mean, If you wanted have an artist paint on your case, or spray it yourself if you don't like it. I'm tellin you man, my rig may look simple but, draw some funny or cool stuff and people will remember, "hey its that guy/girl with that artsy cool case". hehe Now, one thing that I myself have problems is memory. Get good LOW LATENCY PC3200 memory if you want to save some $$$. MEMORY IS really, really important. So, since I don't know much about it in that department, your gonna have to ask around or you might have an idea of waht you want already. I was thinking of PC3700 Gold, from OCZ or MUSKIN Lv 2's, if ya could find em >; ). Yeah, thats all i pretty much have to say. When your looking for something, go second generation and OVERCLOCK THE SH** out of what you got, if you feel comfortable with it. If not, go for the Higher End Stuff and be safe, its gonna cost you a bit more but if you feel that way, go for it. YOU can get your moneys worth with overclocking the right stuff and it'll last you quite a while. I hope this helped even the slightest....
CRAP CRAP, almost forgot a few things, HAH! :lmao
your hard drive look good, if you don't need all that space, go with the 80gig WD's. Here, another think with performance.....if it was up to me, in this case which it is, go with the 7200RPM, 10000 is just too much now a days, it'll do you well, if you were into FILM, or a GRAPHICS STUDENT, or in the MOVIE INDUstry...Yea, what you got lined up is fine. I'm still running my IBM "DEATHSTAR" 20GIG 7200RPM drive since DECEMBER OF 1999, thats rite, 1999!!! plenty fast compared to my bro's 5200 same version.
SEE, SEE, 20gigs, plenty enough for me, PLENTY, but then again, thats just me. You do what you want.
I was thinking about going with the NU technology DVD burner, it may suck but once you upgrade the firmware, its the best burner you can get for your moneys worth. Writing 8x speeds on 4x media. BOO-YAH!!! Its in Anand's reviews. Or go with a NEC 2500A I think. That was my first choice.
GREAT, look around NEWEGG.com for the case, they got some simple ones there. Look, Maxell or Maxwell or something like that, good simple one. YEAH YEAH, case.
I know that AMD systems don't take advantage of the DUEL memory like the intel ones do but....you'd get more stuff out of an AMD SYS over an INTEL, you wouldn't go over your budget with an AMD SYS, I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THAT!!! 100%!!!!! I almost got the same system, I know for a FACT, that it won't go over $1200. I do my shopping at NEWEGG.
Take care.:thumbsup: