Building my own computer and need advice

Alright I don't know too much about computers but I wanted to try to build my own. I would like to watch HDTV movies and play somewhat demanding games and I would like to go with Windows XP. I'm not really wanting to spend too much money, so this is what I have come up with so far-

Motherboard - Asus P5K
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E7200
Graphics Card - PNY GeForce 9600 GT Verto
Harddrive - Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB

I did have a few questions. Are there any big differences between the ASUS P5K, ASUS P5K SE, ASUS P5K E, or the ASUS P5K Deluxe / Wifi-AP? When selecting memory, do I have to choose something that has PC2-5300? I was thinking about just getting 2 1 gb DDR2 SDRAM 1066 sticks and I noticed some had PC2 8500.

If anyone has any tips on better parts, or any advice on choosing memory or a good DVD burner and harddrive, please let me know. Thanks.

One tip I would make is selecting your parts around the motherboard (but you would also need to know what you want when choosing a motherboard).

For the ram, it looks like the fastest ram it can handle is DDR2 1066 (which I would imagine to be pretty unstable but I don't have any experiences with this board). DDR2 800 would be the safest bet. 2GB should be okay if you are running XP, if you are running the 64bit version of XP, then I highly recommend that you get 4GB.

As for the graphics card, I would stay away from PNY (actually, stay away from anything that is made by PNY). The 9600GT, at the moment, has GARBAGE support from nvidia. Mine arrived artifacted on initial bootup. Then everything went to **** when I installed the official drivers. Stick with an 8800gt or if you want, get the new Radeon HD 4850.

If you are sticking with the nvidia GPU's, I recommend getting one made by EVGA....but only get one with the big cooler. The thin coolers don't do anything.

How much are you looking to spend?

__________________
Spike

Hmm alright great thanks for the advice! The last thing I want to do is buy something and find out it was complete garbage. I was taking a look at the e-GeForce 8800 gt and it seems like a decent graphics card.

I was hoping to spend less then 700$. I really wanted to spend as less as possible while still having a good quality pc. If need be I'm willing to put more into it but thats something im trying to avoid. Unfortunatley im not quite sure what to look for in a motherboard, I'm just wanting something that can play high-detail games decent enough maybe watch movies or something. I don't do graphics editing or anything like that.

$700 is gonna be extremely limiting if you want a computer that can run the most recent games with a good performance.

I'd say $900 would be ideal.

__________________
Spike

Hmmm well I'll prolly keep looking more into it and see whats available, I wouldn't mind spending less than 900 but I mean I want something thats gonna work good.

Definitely look more into it. Feel free to ask about any other parts you are considering.

__________________
Spike

64 version of xp, will it say that on the box? Does this version run better or something?

And I'm sorry, one more question. When a memory is pc2 6400 for example, what does this mean? Do I have to make sure this is compatible with the motherboard?

That is just the type of ram. For best performance, I suggest you look at your motherboard specs and find what the fastest ram it can handle is. I'm pretty sure PC2 6400 is DDR2 800. Which means that it it runs at 800mhz. DDR2 refers to "double data rate". Make sure you get what your board can handle. If it wants DDR2, give it DDR2.

__________________
Spike

Does windows xp 64 bit support the Intel Core 2 Duo E7200?