Building first pc

[gasman]

Hello, I am interested in building my first pc. I have been weighing my options and have decided that i want to build my next pc for the simple fact that its cheaper and i want to know how to do it! I have some basic knowledge with changing out the occasional hard drive, video card or dvd burner, but haven't really touched anything as far as the processor or memory goes. I will have some help building it as I go. I would appreciate any advice as to compatibility issues or better bang for my buck. Thinking Windows Vista 64bit

Antec 900 Black Steel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

PC Power & Cooling 610w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703005

Asus P5Q Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131299

Intel Quad Q6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017

OCZ 8gb Platinum Edition (Unsure about memory)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227291

WD Caviar 1TB 7200rpm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136284

EVGA GTX 260
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130370

LG Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136152

Creative Sound Blaster X-FI 7.1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006

Total cost=$1,078.91

This is kind of a rough list so any advice on what i should swap in or out and why, I would appreciate!

[jlreich]

Drop the Q6600 and get either a Q8300 or if you can squeeze in a few more bucks get the Q9400. The Q6600 is a rather old CPU and the newer chips are better in several ways.

Two of these 4GB kits would probably be my ram pick right now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220315

Spend $5 more on the video card and get the Core 216 version.

Other than that it looks good.

[stepfinder]

Well personally I think the original build is quite good for the budget.

[jlreich]

It is a good build, but it could use a few tweaks, particularly the Q6600. I would take the Q8300 over the Q6600 any day. Heck, I would take a new dual core over it any day. The Q6600 while a great chip in it's day and is still doing fairly well is long past its prime. With its 1066MHz FSB and 65nm process it just can't compete with todays s775 chips. Add in core revisions and it's a no-brainer.

The other stuff I could live with but the CPU is a bad choice all together. Heck, a year ago I choose an E6750 dual core over the Q6600 and still feel quite good about my decision. That isn't to say I haven't had my eye on a Q9550 or 9650 since the prices have finally started to drop. But if someone were to want to trade me a Q6600 for my E6750 I would laugh.