Spec for £1000'ish

[Habit]

First post and its a request for help with, surprise surprise, a spec, its not like you get enough of those already.

I know a bit about PC's but hardware is defiantly not a speciality so I've been reading around forums, and different shops trying to choose what I want. The main thing I've learned is I can't make up my mind when it gets down to the specifics.

I'm actually planning on buying this in January when I should have some money but that's not far away and I'm excited about building a machine from scratch for the first time. (well 2nd if a shuttle barebones kit counts).

I'm trying to build a fast gaming machine, and also trying to stick to a budget of £1000'ish though that doesn't include the OS. Anyway as I said its the specifics of what to get that I'm after help with as for example an 8800GTX card varies in price between manufacturers and I have no clue which is the best, or the best in budget anyway. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Hard Drives - Id like fast & quiet, Minimum size would be 50+ gig. Most of my data sits on another machine so doesn't need to be a huge disk. Not worried about RAID

Memory - 2gig fast good quality

Graphics - A single 8800GTX card for now. I plan on buying a 2nd in about 6 months and run them in SLI.

PSU - Enough to run this in SLI when I get the 2nd card, I don't want to skimp on this.

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 would be nice if it can be in the budget.

Motherboard - Capable of supporting 2 8800GTX cards in SLI. Needs a reasonable integrated sound card. Wireless NIC would be nice

Case - Really have no idea here, I'm more keen on a good case no matter what it looks like. But looking nice would be a bonus.

Cooling - ????????

I'm planning to reuse keyboard, mouse, speakers and a DVD drive from my current machine and if the above doesnt have a wireless NIC then I have a PCI one I can use. So I think the above is everything I need...

though im probably wrong

Any help appreciated.

 

[Habit]

Thanks for the replies. Couple of comments\questions...

I already have a monitor so no need for that. I should have mentioned it.

With the money saved there do you think I could push the spec up to using a 8800GTX?

Also the MoBo - Does that support SLI? I had a look and could not find any mention of that? I plan on adding a 2nd graphics card in about 6 months and want to run it it in SLI.

Also regarding HD, is it worth the extra to have a 16MB cache? Honestly I don't know how implortant the cache size is.

As for overcloking, never done it before but Im tempted to give it a go if it means I get a bit more punch for my pound. From the comments above can I presume the E6300 is better for overclocking then the E6400?

Thanks again. Its really nice to be able to talk these questions through.

 

[Habit]

Thanks Orison I think the spec you put up above looks good for what I want/need. Think I'll probably spend the extra £20 for the E6400.

If any one else has any thoughts I'd love to hear them but if not the above spec looks good to me.