StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I recommend Lian-li. They have some very nice aluminium cases for just under 100 bucks.

3rded on the Lian Li case.

Thanks a million for the tips and comments everyone. Took it all in, browsed some sites and finalized the shopping list yesterday. This is what I ended up with:

- Asus P5N-E SLI, nForce-650i SLI, ATX, Socket-775, GbLAN, DDR2, 2xPCI-Ex16 (Based on online reviews stating it's a solid, non-expensive card with overclocking possibilites if I decide to look into that in the future)

- MSI GeForce 8800GTS 640MB OC GDDR3,HDCP ,PCI-Express, 2xDVI-I, Tv-Out, 320bit (Seems like the factory overclocking gives you a few extra FPS, it comes bundled with CoH - that I was going to get either way - and it wasn't much more pricey than "regular" ones)

- 2 X Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 2048MB CL5 Kit w/two matched CM2X1024A-6400 Dimm's (Maybe 4 gigs is overkill but they were so cheap I figured, what the hell.)

- NEC DVD-burner AD-7170S OEM SATA (Nothing too fancy here...)

- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM (Here neither...)

- Antec P182B Performance One (Just seems like pure awesome)

- Corsair Powersupply 520W, 120mm fan, 4xSATA, ATX/EPS, 2xPCI-E, 20/24pin (Also very recommended everywhere. Hopefully it'll fit well in the case)

- Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz 1333Mhz Socket LGA775, 4MB, BOXED (No change here)

- Vista Home Basic OEM (64bit) (It was a toss-up between Vista and XP. In the end, it just seemed silly to go with XP when eventually it'll go the way of 2000, which sadly I am currently still using)

So there you have it. Went a tiny bit over budget with the case and PSU but I think it was probably worth it. Everything was in stock except for the Geforce, which I'll have to wait for until next friday. Can't wait!

Again, thanks for all the help!

Don't get Home Basic. It sucks. It removes most of the point of getting the Vista upgrade... Oh, and I think the Sony Optiarc DVD drive is at least as good as the NEC drive you're getting, and may be cheaper.

Home Basic is lame and be warned that Vista OEM doesn't easily transfer between upgrades. Finally, Vista64 is not as compatible as Vista32 so be warned.

Yeah, but if he's getting 4GB of RAM, not getting 64-bit makes little sense. Also, vice-versa. Another note: you'll need to change a BIOS setting to get the full 4GB available to the OS. Otherwise, you'll have parts of RAM being shadowed by other memory mapped items (like video card RAM). Changing that setting will also make it effectively impossible to run a 32-bit OS, IIRC.

Well crap, I just kinda assumed it was all more or less the same shit and went with the cheapest one .

I could still change the order but which one to go for in that case?

Vista Home Premium, IMO. You do lose some stuff that Ultimate provides, but it's half the cost. And most people don't use the extra stuff that Ultimate provides anyway.