My first Computer build. Look!

[Dooin' it]

I'd second what Bob Omega says.......(but you don't wanna hear from me on RAM 'cuz I'm a "VALUE-RAM" kinda' guy.....har har).

Also, unless you're getting a great deal on the P4 2.8C, I'd step one back to the 2.6C.

Newegg............P4 2.8C retail.........$214.00
Newegg............P4 2.6C retail.........$174.00 <------ideal!!!
Newegg............P4 2.4C retail.........$164.00

And I doubt.......no, I know.......you'd never see the difference except for the extra $40 you'd have for your fav. video card! But, it *is* your choice.

EDIT: Here, here...... JP!!!!!

[HeadBand]

i would suggest getting a slightley bigger harddrive (120 or 160) you always think a mid range harddrive will be plenty for the next few years and it never is but make ABSOULTLEY SURE you get the special edditon with the 8mb cache if you decide to go bigger

and as you said you are planning to upgrade to a dvd burner it is good to have a big drive if you want to keep a movie or two on you harddrive for a while

[sweeper2]

nice setup, but like few have said, invest in a better video card unless gaming is not an issue or video is not an issue.

I would try the 9800 radeon or the 9600 radeon pro 128, no need for a 256 card, stay with ATI, besides that, looks good, and it is hard to wait, i waited a long time before i did my upgrade, used a duron 800 mhz for along time until about 2 years ago when i got a 1.3 duron, with pc133 256 ram and a nvidea 32 mg video card etc. It was last October before i decided to start upgrading. good luck...

[thall]

For the money I would look at an AMD64 setup. That makes your software ready for the 64 bit next step. Speed on boards, etc is all relative. After all can you really tell the difference if you play HalfLife at 120fps or 129fps?? Really?? Honestly?? Heck no! Does it matter if your data transfer is 100/sec or 105/sec?? NO.
The 64 is the ONLY processor for sale, today, that will run it all today and tomorrow.

[tmmerrit]

Thank you everyone for the replies, they were very helpful. I think I may go with the P4 2.6 and a better graphics card now. I think I am going to order the parts from newegg.com this week and hopefully build it soon. thanks everyone