New Laptop ideas...

Looks like a decent machine.

Honestly, in looking for a graphics card. Buy name brand. I like EVGA but there are plenty of choices out there. The only one I havent liked for Nvidia is the XFX brand which has some spacific drivers for its card that preclude using
reference drivers direct from Nvidia. (the Nvidia drivers dont work on 2 cards friends of mine replaced recently)

I dont know much about that motherboard but I know it has been rated at:

http://www.anandtech.com

go with the larger monitor unless you plan to do video editing, in which case get the larger monitor and the 2G of ram.....

I like the prices of machines at: http://www.cyberpowerinc.com

I havent been able to build a machine with better components in the last couple of years for less than they sell them for (using high end name brand components).

don't skimp on the warrenty if you buy there, out of 8 systems that friends and assosiates have bought there over the last 4 years, 2 had problems with the cheepy powersuplys that they insisted would be enough for their needs.

Thanks Grizzled, I'll look into my motherboards rating later tonight. I'm pretty happy with where I'll be buying this computer from because my family hasn't had a problem with them ever and they're only a half an hour away from my college so I can stop in if I have a problem. So as of the video cards I'm looking Best Buy/others to get approximate prices on cards because I'll be able to get them cheaper through Millenium computers(where I'm buying my new computer). So how do these look... which one seems above to be better, and if anyone else has some suggestions that'd be great!

1)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=WKBZ0OD3YWLSFKC4D3IVAFQ?skuId=7212679&type=product&id=1113954027220

2)
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=338239&pfp=BROWSE

3)
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=338095&pfp=BROWSE
I'm also weighing my options on whether to get a different motherboard, but I honestly don't know anything about them, like who makes good ones, and what I should be looking for in one...

Ok,

a few things dont make sense here. The numbers you put down for your motherboard? Well, Intel's site does not list those numbers as a Intel board. Maybe it is a Intel reference board? At any rate, I called my ex-brother in law and he works for Intel, They don't currently produce that board.

Second thing, you have 2 types of graphics cards listed in your wants above, 1 of them is an AGP card, which is cool if your motherboard is an AGP board, which I think it may be as it is a 640 board? I think?

the other 2 graphics cards are PCIe cards, which take a different style slot. there are only a couple of motherboards on the market that have slots for both.

BTW I like the 7800gt. I have a pair of the previous generation Nvidia cards and the 7800gt is better than both of them in SLI mode.

lol, well I knew that Intel may not have the new board out yet, Millenium was expecting it to come out soon but maybe not... However I'm glad you mentioned the types of cards cause I didn't even think about that. So is this the 7800 GT you were talking about? http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=332688&pfp=SEARCH
I honestly don't know what the board I'll be getting uses, so I may have to call Millenium up to find out. So my safest bet is to look at a PCI card which is #2 and #3 I showed, and the one above? I was looking at the 7800 before, it's pretty costly but if I'm getting much more than the 6600 for only $50 more then it may be worth the extra.

Yes it is.

There is a significant difference between the capabilities of the 6600gt and the 7800gt, mostly in particle and T&L effects. The 6600gt supports HDR (high dynamic range lighting) but isent fast enough to pull the best frame rate with it enabled. The 7800gt pulls it off and then some.

I purchased it today

, with the 7800 gt, and they ended up giving me the updated motherboard, but it hasn't been offically released yet.. well so I'm told. I'm also going wireless so I'm looking forward to testing it out! Hopefully it'll be ready soon, but I'll make sure I report on how it is. Thanks so much for all of the contribution, I would have been lost without it!!!

It's finally here! Between two faulty power supplies and two bad Nvidia cards it's now fully done, phew

... I love the computer, it's twenty times faster than my old computer and the best part is being able to see weather affects on UT maps... I never knew elecfields was raining. But it's a lot of fun playing games with it or even updating my ipod (which for anyone who saw my post on that, it fixed all of the problems with it and added about 10 gigs of songs in 20 minutes

) This computer is great and I have to thank you all for helping me piece it together!

Getting a new computer is fun, huh? I'm glad you got everything all straightened out. Sounds like you're having a blast.

B_B