High-End Gaming System; need buying advice :)

[cuse]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thanks for taking the time to look this over for me. I am ready to purchase ASAP--I just have a few questions and need your assistance making sure that everything looks right/will be compatible.

This is what I'm looking at getting:

Case: Antec Nine Hundred, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021, $110.00.
PSU: OCZ GameXStream, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341007, $220.00.
>>Question: Does OCZ make quality PSUs? Should I opt for this one or a 1kW Antec TruePower PSU (about $70.00 more expensive)?
Mombo: I need help selecting a mombo!
>>Question: I'm still very new to the whole computer-building scene, and I definitely need help selecting a motherboard that is compatible with all of the components that I listed. It's also be nice if it was "beginner" friendly. Suggestions?
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz Kentsfield, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115027, $275.00.
Memory: Corsair XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145194, $110.00
>>Question: Is this good enough, or should I be looking at DDR3?
HD(s): Seagate Barracuda 32MB Cache 250GB, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148309, $80.00.
Video Card: 2 x EVGA 8800GT cards in SLI, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130335, $250.00 each, $500.00 (the ones with cooling built in).
Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer, pulled from my existing system.
>>Question: I should be able to do this no problem, right? Just pop it out of my old PC (the one listed in my sig.) and right into the new one?
Optical Drive: LITE-ON Combo Drive, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106087, $19.00.
Operating System: Vista Home Premium 64bit, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116204, $95.00.
Monitor: I'm looking at this 24" Acer right now, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009125, but I'm not sure I'm going to get a new monitor just yet.

I really need help picking out a motherboard, but other than that I think I should be ok. The total estimated cost for this rig would be around $1,460.00 + shipping + whatever Mombo I end up selecting.

Thanks!

[Heartborne]

You have many options for the motherboard... A 780i, 680i, 690i, 790i, 650i, 750 i, x38 or p35 intel should all be decent options. What you need in a motherboard is the following: 1066 fsb speed, sli-compatible, LGA 775 kentsfield compatible. Any of the boards I listed will meet those criteria.

You don't need a 1000w psu. That is too expensive and totally unnecessary. 600w is plenty, with wiggle room. OCZ is an excellent manufacturer for power supplies.
DDR2 is fine, DDR3 is new, too expensive and not quite where it should be in terms of performance and compatibility.
2x 8800GT is a good choice, but you can get them WAY cheaper than that. Like... 50-80 bucks cheaper each. Check pricegrabber.com.
You don't really need the sound card. All of the good gaming boards come with high quality onboard sound. You can use it if you want, since you already have it, but I really don't see a point. As long as you have the driver CD you should be able to go ahead and change that out.
I'm a little scared of Vista right now... I'm not too sure if I'm going to go that way myself. I've just read too many totally awful reviews.

So, you can probably shave about $200 off your total cost with my advice, which is about the cost of a good SLI-capable motherboard. Good luck! Please use pricegrabber. Newegg has good prices for the most part, but they're not always the best all the time.

[cuse]

Thanks Heartborne, I appreciate your help. I'll definitely search all of this stuff on pricegrabber before committing to purchasing through newegg, but are you sure about the 600w PSU? How about faster DDR2 RAM as opposed to DDR3? I know in another thread I actually asked YOU that, and you said that for gaming, it wouldn't make a tremendous difference. And lastly, would this be a good choice for the motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188013? :)

[Heartborne]

The 680i is definitely a good choice. Since it is SLI, you can use SLI-Ready memory to crank up the DDR2 800 to a nice 1066, which is DDR3 speed. You can get some DDR2 900, but that seems off to me because I'm not sure how 900 mhz will match up with your fsb speed. DDR2 800 is great and SLI-Ready DDR2 800 can be boosted up over the maximum limit of DDR2.

But it's true, you won't notice a huge difference gaming wise, since the DDR3 memory on your video card will be doing most of the dirty work there :)

Also, for the power supply 700w would probably be better if you want a little wiggle room, but it's hard to say for sure if you need even that much power. This seems to be where a lot of people overdo it...
power consumption of video cards (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140&p=13)
2X 8800 GT in SLI only pulls about 327 watts. The Q9450 only pulls just over 100 watts under intense load.

Altogether, NOBODY needs more than a 700w power supply unless they're running a server machine.
got some evidence right here. (http://www.behardware.com/art/imprimer/670/)

So 600w should be fine.

[cuse]

Thanks for all of your help Heartborne! I'll probably do a final price out and buy all of the components tonight/tomorrow during the day.

Then I'll probably be back here asking for help, trying to figure out why I can't get the new computer to boot or something ;).

Thanks again!

[cuse]

Order placed - I ended up getting a 750W Zalman PSU.

Thanks again!

[cuse]

Wow, I got *everything* from NewEgg already. I haven't opened up the boxes... will do after work... but that was impressively fast.

+ 1 for NewEgg.

[Heartborne]

Newegg is awesome that way. They have distribution houses all over the country, so they usually get your hardware to you in 1-2 business days.

[cuse]

Sigh. I am having trouble with the installation process (windows vista) - please check out this thread and help me out: http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?p=395116#post395116

Thanks!