New PC after 4 years

[JaYBirD0613]

I build a new PC every 3-4 years. It's time for a new one, and I haven't kept up with the latest hardware technology. Here is what I use it for:

• 
  Dual 24" Dell Widescreen Monitors (1920x1200) - Video card must have dual DVI
  Casual Gamer, but I'd like to be able to play the latest RTS and FPS games without slowdown at or near the highest settings.
  I probably won't be overclocking

I've Decided on the follow:

• Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz
  2GB RAM (Is 4GB worth it?) OCZ maybe?
  500GB HDD (What brand?)

So I'm looking for advice on: Mobo, Video Card and Sound Card. Also what power supply? Is 450W enough?

 

[leeland]

I have 2 320 gb versions of the SEAGATE drives and I am pretty happy so far...I have the p5B - Deluxe board after reading a ton of reviews on a variety of P965 chipset boards and have to say I am sure there are better boards out there...ect ,That being said, the Asus board is a dream to work with, everything is setup where it needs to be as far as placement IMO.

The BIOS is easy to work with and even over clocking for a noob like me was a breeze...On stock voltages I have my E6600 running at 3.1 Ghz with temps in the mid to high 30's with TAT running 100% load.

In the future I might upgrade to 4 GB's of RAM...however with XP it doesn't really help...

I have eVGA 8800 GTS 640 mb and it kicks serious arse...you might want to go with something like the GTX if you are going to be running at that high of a resolution dual screens...I am only on 1600x1200...

If you get quality components (IMO - ASUS, eVGA, </Insert Harddrive vendor/>) )you won't go wrong. I dropped 1100 dollars on mine and it was by far night and day from what I was on...and I didn't get anything high end except the video card.

 

[jkresh]

4gigs is worth it for vista 64, if you are sticking with xp or vista 32 then 2 or 3 gigs would be fine. If you want to game at 1900x1200 (I have a 2405 as well) then you probably want to consider an 8800gtx (as Crysis, Alan Wake, ut 2007) are all likely going to need something that powerful to be able to run at even acceptable framerates at that resolution. Also since you build every 3-4 years I would highly recommend waiting till July and picking up a q6600 for $260 or so, as while it wont help that much now it will likely be very useful in 1-2 years and make a tremendous difference for the last year or so before your next rebuild. The wait will also allow for more p35 boards to show up and possibly some x38 boards (intels new enthusiast chipset) though you could always consider an 680i board to allow for sli if need be.

As for powersupply I would go with the best you can fit in your budget and probably nothing less then a high quality 500 watt (corsair, enermax, seasonic, pc power and cooling).

You say you are a casual gamer but you want to be able to play new fps's at high resolution with highest settings so that basically means you need a high end graphics card or 2 which means high end psu.