Hello Techsters! I am planning my first build, and after reading through this site I realize there is much more than I thought to putting together a quality system. I was hoping that I could get some advice from those of you who have done this so many times before and know all the ins and outs of the hardware. The system will be mostly a gaming system (except for some stuff my wife needs for work) geared to play things like EQ, EQ2, WoW, Doom 3, etc...so I am looking to go with fairly high specs and at the same time not break my wallet. So far this is what I have in mind: Case: Antec P160 Aluminum (bought) PS: Enermax 460W (bought) CPU: Min. Athlon 64 3000 (TBD) MB: (TBD) Memory: 1GB (Brand TBD) HDD: 120GB min. (Brand/ Interface/Number TBD) Sound: Soundblaster Audigy Platinum(Or TBD) Video: GeForce 6800 GT (thinking for the Pixel Shader 3.0 for down the road CD-Rom/CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM (TBD) Extra Fans, Cables, accessories (TBD as needed) As you can see I still have alot to determine. I have some ideas of my own but would like to get some input from the experts before I plunk down any cash. Sorry for the long post. Thanks if you took the time to read it through and I look forward to all your feedback.

I guess my first question is regarding the CPU and MB. Is the Athlon 64 3000 good processor to base this system around? Would I see a big performance gain if I went with a 3200 or a 3400, or are the gains negligible compared to the price? As far as MBs...just looking for a good performing, stable board. I don't overclock so that isn't a consideration. I would like an onboard Network port (unless someone tells me I shouldn't 8) )and do not necessarily need onboard sound (if that matters). Otherwise I don't know what else to look for in a MB and am hoping you can give me some good ideas. Thanks again!