Well, I finally gave in and bought all my parts for my new rig. I sold my old rig to get it. Thanks for the suggestions when I inquired recently. I went with:

Asus Striker II Formula LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i
Intel E8400 Wolfdale BX80570E8400
ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
2x1Gb Corsair Dominator DDR21066TWIN2X2048-8500C5D
BFG Tech BFGE88512GTSE GeForce 8800GTS (G92)
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB
Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R Black SATA Burner with LightScribe
Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Now, I was thinking of putting Vista Ultimate 32-bit on the 36GB Raptor. Are there still too many problems? I was just looking at the future, and I don't have another OS disc to use. I am only going to buy 1 OS for the foreseeable future. I am also not sure I need the Ultimate edition. I just want to make sure I get use of the coolest features (DirectX 10). BTW, I am gonna need help getting a nice reliable/stable OC going on the Wolfdale! Thanks!

Nice selection of components, Dart! Should be a sweet rig.

That is going to be a great build.

I think Vista Ult. 32 would be very good. I plan on upgrading to that possible next month.

Will be very easy for you to get a stable OC with the e8400.

Take lots of pics.

I am done with my build. Please excuse my ignorance, but can you tell me how to post pictures on this site? I have the images loaded in imageshack. Thanks.

Can't wait to see pics Dart.

At the imageshack page that has thumbnails of all your pics, there are a horizontal row of icons just to the right of each image. Click on the top one that looks like the letter "i", which is the share it button. After clicking that a box will pop up. If you want to post a thumbnail of your pic, towards the bottom under the "Thumbnail Size" there is a forum box with the url. Click on it once to highlite it, then just copy and paste that here in a thread.
If you want a full size pic, then towards the top of the same box, uncheck the "Full Size" box. The the forum url will be displayed and just copy and paste that one.

Hope this helps and good luck with it.

Thanks! Here they are:

I drilled 2 holes for cable management


Top hole


Bottom hole


Back side of case (behind mobo)


Done with wiring


All closed up


Finished product. Up and running!


I don't know why they came out all different sizes, but oh well. I really need to get some 3-pin fans to help clean up the cable clutter. I also need to get to OC'ing! How long should I let the system "burn in"? Is there a program I should run for that process? This is my first build, and I want to do it right! Thanks again guys!

Dart-
I need two more rigs to field 4 full teams for Forum Wars. Are you interested? Best way I know how to learn overclocking. We're just now getting revved up. I loike the cable holes BTW, wish I had done something like that.

I am interested, but I dont have a ton of time to devote to it. Let me know the specifics?

Wow looks great dart, nice a clean.

When you upload images, there is a box that you can check which allows you to resize the image. That will keep them all at the same reso you choose.

I usually like to let it run at stock for a few days myself before I start to overclock.

That baby is going to run awesome.

There are two parts. The first is running stock scores on 5 benches to register your rig. That is due by Mar 14th. The second score is your best on the same 5 benchmarks and that score is due by April 19th. You will be on one of five, four player teams and our totals against other teams in those categories determines the winner.

Bottomline, between now and April 19th you have to run 5 benches twice. The rest of the time spent is up to you. All overclocking and talk will be inside a closed forum for team members only. What do you think?

Sounds good. I have pretty much over-spent my budget on this rig. What software do I need to run as benchmarks? Are they free?

You can use the free versions of everything. You get a little more functionality by paying $20 each for the 3DMark proggies, '03, and '06 (Aqua and '01 are only available free), in that you can save your results more easily and you don't need to run all of the -*test*-('")s to get a score. This can sometimes give you higher scores, because you can avoid some of the -*test*-('")s that will crash your system at a high overclock. But, most of the guys here use the free versions.

Fair enough. Can you guys give me the links to all the software I will need please? I can run them while I spend time with the wife and kid in the evenings. Also, I may need help with exactly what is required as far as screenshots to submit for proof. Thanks.

Aquamark: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=673

3DM03 & 06: http://www.futuremark.com/download/

3D01: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=320

Super 1.5: http://www.overclock.net/downloads/138140-super-pi-mod.html

Geekbench: http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/

Thanks! Let me know what wlse I need to do. I'll start running them tonight. I just need to know what I need to save. Is there a file export from inside the programs?