Part One: Initial Build
~$600 Budget
Cooler Master Centurion 5
ASUS M2N-E nForce 570 Ultra
eVGA 8600GTS 256MB GDDR3
SeaSonic 400W (34A Combined 12v)
AMD X2 5000+ 2.6Ghz Black Edition
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800 (5-5-5-15)
Hitachi Deskstar 160GB SATAII
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $565.92
Cooler Master Centurion 5
Gigabyte P35 DS3L
MSI 8600GT 256MB GDDR3
SeaSonic 400W (34A Combined 12v)
Intel C2D E6550 2.33GHz
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800 (5-5-5-15)
Hitachi Deskstar 160GB SATAII
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $572.92
~$800 Budget
Cooler Master Centurion 5
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe nForce 570 SLI
eVGA 9600GT 512MB GDDR3
SilverStone 500W (36A Combined 12v)
AMD X2 6400+ 3.2GHz Black Edition
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800 (5-5-5-15)
Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATAII
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $772.92
Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II
Gigabyte P35 DS3L
eVGA 9600GT 512MB GDDR3
SilverStone 500W (36A Combined 12v)
Intel C2D E6750 2.66GHz
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800 (5-5-5-15)
Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATAII
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $771.92
~$1,000 Budget
Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe nForce 570 SLI
eVGA 8800GTS 512MB GDDR3 (G92 Core)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W (49A 12v)
AMD X2 6400+ 3.2GHz Black Edition
Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 (4-4-4-12)
Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATAII
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $977.92
Cooler Master Centurion 5
Gigabyte P35 DS3R
eVGA 8800GTS 512MB GDDR3 (G92 Core)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W (49A 12v)
Intel C2D E6750 2.66GHz
Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 (4-4-4-12)
Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATAII
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $961.92
~$1,200 Budget
Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II
DFI LanParty AMD 790FX
eVGA 8800GTS 512MB GDDR3 (G92 Core)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W (49A 12v)
AMD X2 6400+ 3.2GHz Black Edition
Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066 (5-5-5-15)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATAII (32MB Cache)
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $1,167.92
Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II
Gigabyte X38 DS4
eVGA 8800GTS 512MB GDDR3 (G92 Core)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W (49A 12v)
Intel C2D E8400 3.0GHz
Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066 (5-5-5-15)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATAII (32MB Cache)
Lite-On 20X DVD±R
LINK @ $1,186.92
Home Theater PC
Lian-Li PC-A05B (Only 15" tall!)
Biostar TForce nForce 520
MSI 8600GTS 256MB GDDR3 (Native HDMI)
Hauppauge PVR-350 TV Tuner
SeaSonic S12 II 380W (34a combined 12v)
AMD X2 5400+ 2.8GHz
Crucial 2x1GB DDR2 533 (4-4-4-12)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATAII (32MB Cache)
HT Omega Striker Sound Card
Link Depot HDMI to HDMI 10ft Cable
LINK @ $826.41
LCD TV Choices
Olevia 37" 720p @ $749.99
Philips 42" 1080p @ $1,099.99
Westinghouse 47" 1080p @ $1,299.99
Passive Cooling Options
Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 @ $27.99
Thermalright Ultra-120A @ $39.99
Thermalright HR-05 @ $23.99
Thermalright HR-07 @ $34.99
Active Cooling Options
Scythe S-Flex 120mm 49CFM/20.1dBA @ $14.99
Globalwin 120mm 41CFM/19dBA @ $5.99
Part Two: Peripherals
~Monitors
17"
Hanns-G 17" DVI 8ms 500:1 Widescreen @ $149.99
19"
Hanns-G 19" DVI 5ms 700:1 Widescreen @ $169.99
Samsung 940BX 19" DVI 5ms 1000:1 @ $249.99
22"
Samsung 226BW 22" DVI 2ms 3000:1(DCR) Widescreen @ $319.99
24"
Westinghouse 24" HDMI 8ms 1000:1 Widescreen @ $409.99
Allthough these are my recommendations, I cannot be as indepth as the comprehensive LCD buyer's guide over at AnandTech.
~Keyboards
Logitech Standard Internet 350 @ $8.25
It can't be any simpler. Anything more than $15 on a keyboard is a complete waste of money.
~Mouses
Optical
Microsoft Intellimouse 1.1a @ $20.99
Microsoft Explorer 3.0 @ $31.99
Logitech MX518 @ $39.99
Laser
Logitech G5 @ $49.99
Razer Copperhead @ $55.99
~Headphones/Headsets
Sennheiser PC151 @ $39.99
SteelSeries 5H v2 @ $84.99
Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 @ $103.99
Sennheiser HD555 @ $149.99
Audio-Technica ATH-A900 @ $199.99
~Cooling
-Air
CPU
Thermalright Ultima-90 @ $43.99
**ZEROtherm Nirvana @ $45.99
Scythe Ninja With S-Flex 120mm @ $47.99
Sunbeam Tuniq Tower @ $49.99
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme @ $57.99
Zalman CNPS9700 @ $57.99
**(Note: Numerous reviews have pointed out that metal shavings from installing the ZEROtherm Nirvana have gotten into hardware parts and have caused shorting.)
GPU
Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev2 @ $27.99
Zalman VF900CU LED @ $43.99
Thermalright HR-03 GT @ $47.99
Chipset
Thermalright HR-05 @ $23.99
Thermalright HR-05-SLI @ 24.99
Fans
-120mm
GlobalWin 41CFM/19dBA @ $5.99
Yate Loon 47CFM/28dBA @ $5.99
**Yate Loon 88CFM/40dBA @ $5.99
Yate Loon Blue LED 47CFM/28dBA @ 6.99
**Panaflo 86.5CFM/36.5dBA @ $9.99 (38mm Width)
Scythe S-Flex 49CFM/20.1dBA @ $14.99
Cooler Master 4 Pack 44.73CFM/19.3dBA @ $19.99
**Recommended use with fan controller only.
-92mm
GlobalWin 34CFM/19dBA @ $4.99
Panaflo 42.7CFM/27dBA @ $9.99
-80mm
Cooler Master 28.89CFM/20.9dBA @ $1.99
Arctic Cooling 28CFM/20dBA @ $3.99
GlobalWin 27.33CFM/18dBA @ $4.99
Fan Controllers
Sunbeam Rheobus 5.25" 4 Channels @ $12.99
Logisys 3.5" 4 Channels @ $15.99
Zalman MFC1 Plus-B 6 Channels @ $31.99
-Water
Swiftech H2O-120 Compact @ $139.95
Corsair Nautilus 500 @ $149.99
Swiftech H2O-220 Compact @ $169.95
Other than the kits, I am not experienced enough in H2O to recommend a good loop. The advantage of creating your own loop, whether it be for your CPU or GPU or both, is the scaling of cooling. It might be on par with air coolers at idle but at full load or overclocked the difference will show. If you're interested in making your own loop then I recommend going over to the dangerden forums. The owner and mods are very friendly and will help with your every H2O need.
TIM
Arctic Silver 5 @ $6.99 (recommended for CPU use)
Arctic Silver Ceramique @ $4.99 (recommended for GPU and Chipset use)
Arctic Silver ArctiClean @ $5.95
Lapping
East PC Kits has the best selection around for all of your lapping needs.
Part Three: Useful Information
~Software
CPU-z
GPU-z
CoreTemp
SpeedFan
Everest
Prime95
Orthos
Memtest86+
~Guides
Corsair's building guide Made in Feb. of '07. Very indepth and one of the more up-to-date guides.
[H]ardforum's Intel OC'ing guide is like no other. Goes through each BIOS option you'd need to know about and walks you through each process.
DIY-Street's AMD overclocking guide helped me when I first started to overclock. It gives very useful information about each step of the overclocking process. Though it was created for S939, it can be used for AM2.
XP/Vista/Linux Why choose between them when you can dual-boot your favorite OS's.
BIOS Beep Error codes As long as your motherboard speaker is pluged in you'll be able to help yourself diagnose almost any hardware problem that presents itself.
~E-Tailers
Newegg
Silicon Valley Compucycle
FrozenCPU
Petra's Tech Shop
Performance-PCs
Jab Tech
ZipZoomFly
Amazon
MNPC Tech Shop
Xoxide
A.C.Ryan
This list of e-tailers is who I personally buy from and publically recommend. These are not the only e-tailers out there, just the ones that I trust.
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