My current system is in my signature-don't use it any more, I've given it to another member of my household. This is what I am planning (on a budget). Includes everything. Prices includes rebates, if applicable. Total is about $760 (see below for video card recommendation requests).

Monitor: 20.1" 1680x1050 Price: 110

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112013

Case: Steel ATX, Midtower Price: 24

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811164117

PSU: 650W, ATX 12V Price: 20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709016

Motherboard: ECS P55 Price: 100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135244

CPU: Core i5 750 Price: 200

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

Heatsink/Fan: Thermaltake 92mm Price: 30

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106139

Memory: 2GB DDR3 1066 Price: 34

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148149

HDD: 160GB 72k SATA II Price: 40

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075

Optical Drive: LiteOn DVD Burner Price: 32

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106333

Wireless; Zonet USB Price: 8

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156264

Peripherals: Linkworld Wireless USB Price: 20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823164005

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium Retail Preorder Price: Special Student discount, 30

http://win741.com/

Any general recommendations?

Now, for the Graphics Card, I am thinking between a 4870 1GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150436
) and a 4850 512MB OC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127414).

The former is 125 dollars and the latter is only 80 (both after rebates). Price difference thus ~ 45 dollars. Which should I choose? Any worthwile differences between the two that warrants the extra 45 dollars? I plan on mainly using things like FSX, x-plane, but probably also ARMA2, DCS, Silent hunter 5, etc.

Also, will the motherboard enable a CPU overclock well? How can I tell when choosing one?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

You are not going to get a good PSU for 20 dollars.

Get a decent name brand case like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119203

ECS mobos are the cheapest and have the fewest options in the BIOS. Spend the money and and get a top tier mobo from ASUS, Gigabyte or EVGA. You will not be happy with that ECS.

Wait and get a new 1156 socket direct touch cooler. They should be out soon.

You are also going to want to get at least 4Gb of memory.

I would get a bigger hard drive than a 160Gb with 8Mb cache. Get one of these. It has a single platter and should be pretty fast.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Also, once again, ECS is known for not overclocking worth a hoot. Get something better.

Thanks speedbump-how do you know how many platters a drive has?

Do you have any recommendations for good brands of power supplies worth buying? I chose the one because it was cheap, and it was certified for 80 Plus efficiency.....

What about the video card-any suggestions?

What is a direct touch cooler? How can I tell?

What is the difference between a decent brand case and any regular one? any worthwile features?

Thanks.

The new 12 series Seagates have reduced platters. The 320 and 500 have one platter. The 1Tb has two platters. Generally, fewer platters means more density per platter increasing performance.

http://forums.hexus.net/reader-reviews/157418-new-seagate-7200-12-500gb-st3500410as-mini-review.html

Direct touch coolers have the heat pipes that directly touch the heat spreader on the CPU. A good place to read up on such coolers is here...

http://www.frostytech.com/

A good name brand case will be built of thicker steel and will be screwless. All hard drives and optical drive can be installed without any screws. CoolerMaster makes good cases that have good airflow. If you have to work on the inside of the case later, you will be glad you bought a good, well laid out, roomy case.

With the way video cards prices fluctuate so much, I would go to Tom's Hardware and look up the current best video card for the money, which gets updated every month. At your price point....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2404-3.html

PSU buying is open to discussion. The best place for reviews of PSU units is here.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php

thanks alot for the suggestions, speedbump!

As mentioned above don't skimp on the PSU. Generally speaking a good PSU can be had from Seasonic, Antec, Enermax, PC Power and Cooling, Corsair and a few others. Rule #1 of building your own PC is do not buy cheap PSUs from little known companies.

I would also recommend 6 gig of DDR3 1066 (but no less than 4) and a 64-bit version of the Win7 you have selected. Memory is so cheap these days there is really no reason not to add alot to a new build and it'll help ensure some "futureproofing" to your new system.

You can't tell how well a motherboard is going to overclock off hand. You'll need to read some reviews (and not the Newegg type) and do a little research. I have no experience with P55 motherboards so I can't help you myself. I've never heard of Elitegroup so beware.

Never heard of the company that built the case either.

Fry's has CPU mobo combos on sale all the time. They give you the mobo and it's always a ECS. That should tell you something. I learned the hard way.

The trick to PC making is specifying the components. There are thousands of components, but only hundreds of good ones. If they are all good, there is only a small chance of problems during the build. After all, if one turns on the new PC and it doesn't work -- how do you figure out what's wrong -- better to avoid that.

I have found the case is one component that can be cheap -- still has to take 120mm fans though.

Shop sales for PSUs. My PSU (in signature) is a real good one. It has varied in price from $60 to over $200. I'm waiting for it or a Seasonic 650W+ unit to drop very significantly below $100 -- then I will grab one for my next build.

In fact, if you are putting together a budget system, shop sales for a couple months to get the parts. I look for sales of combo stuff -- e.g. PSU plus memory. That way you can probably get all good stuff for the budget price. I try to do that most of the time -- and am partly successful.

For the GFX card...

1) Both the prices on 4870 and 4850 may drop with the 5870 and 5850 now coming into the market full strength.

2) Since you are gaming in high-res (1680x1050) you place more demand on shaders and also memory. Thus I would not go for the 4850, that might be a tad disappointing on newer shader-intense games. In fact if you could budget for a 5850 you might get much nicer performance, but likely not under 200USD, if at all so cheap.

A good PSU is really important - a bad one will fail and take other components with it, a good one might still fail, but not damage anything else.

Also agree on the recommendation for 4GB RAM and Win7 64bit.

For Motherboards, obviously it is a problem if you are on a budget. But you might still be able to get a better recognized brand name for just a tad more. Maybe save the aftermarket cooler for the CPU instead, an i5 shouldn't be so bad with the stock cooler.

Most importantly, a cheap case will almost certainly have sharp metal edges that have a tendency to slice open fingers. Good cases will have these edges rounded off or filed down at the factory. Good cases also tend to have nice features like snap-in fan mounts and drive rails so that components can be removed much more easily should a need for rewiring or component replacement occur. Nice cases also have been designed for better airflow; they will have 120mm fans mounts instead of 80mm, for example.

thanks for all the suggestions-after all, i am not that short of money. I can afford something like 8-9 hundred dollars, after all. Probably going with the 4870 1GB, a better psu, mobo, and case, as well as upgrading the ram will do it. Can't wait...