n00b comp

I dunno if this is the right place to post this nonsense but I was wondering if this looks like a good 2nd comp to build...I'm mostly into gameing. Some critiques on this setup would be appreciated.
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
2 Corsair 256MB PC3200
Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 40GB
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
Would you reccomend not getting any of these products, by either past experience or just reading something somewhere... Or is there is a better choice to replace something here...
Thanks
~Temporal~

Looks like a fairly solid pc. The only thing I might reccomend is a slightly bigger HD unless you only play a few games and don't need the space.

Apart from that while it's not using the absolute cream of the crop parts it should be able to run at least the next gen or two of games.

those are nice specs, again like syngod said a bigger hard drive maybe would be better!

Wow, really? Well I showed one of my friends that setup and he also suggested a bigger hard drive, but he also said I should get a Radeon 9500 NP and mod it to a 9700-9800 ( whatever ). So here Is my new list.
ASUS MB P/N A7N8X Deluxe NVIDIA nForce2 $121.75

AMD Athlon XP2500+(1.83GHz)(BARTON) $90.00

Sapphire Radeon 9500 128MB $99.00

SEAGATE HD 80GB 8MB 7200 $81.00

2Corsair 256MB PC3200 non-ECC $150.00

Should I stick with the 9500 Np or should I go pack to the 9600 Pro? Also do those prices look resonable?
~Temporal~

Well I'm not sure about the 9500np softmod. You will first need to get a 9500np built on a 9700 pcb, then you will need the 4 disabled pipelines to be working perfectly, or else you will get artifacts.

Your chances to achieve your goal are less than 30% imo. Look around, you'll see it's not a safe bet.
I think you should stick with the 9600 Pro.

The safest bet right now is the Sapphire 9800np w/ samsung memory than can be flashed to a 9800 Pro. Once you get that sapphire with samsung memory, you have 100% of chances to get a 9800 pro. So far, I haven't seen someone not succeeding with samsung memory. And I haven't seen a Sapphire 9800np ship without samsung memory yet.

But this is more expensive. If you're on a budget, go with the 9600 Pro.

Also, if you plan on overclocking, you should get decent cooling, like an slk-800u or 900u, as well as some case fans.

What are the case and psu you plan on buying ?

Well, I guess I could sorta be on a budget.. or I could just wait... For now I will stick with the 9600 pro. Now about that psu and case... I don't really know, seeing as how I'm not completely experienced with buying parts and building computers... What would you suggest. Thanks
~Temporal~

EDIT: Oh yeah, and another thing. Performance-wise should I maybe get a nVIDIA vid. card? Or should I stick with ATI?

For the video card. in one word: ATI.

If you look at reviews and benchmarks, you will see that the GeForce FX struggles in DX9 games, they also got caught cheating in benchmarks to improve their score. Image quality is said to be better on ATI cards too.

As for the case, you could get this one: http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=91082

It's a great case, I have the same one but mine has a window.

Yours come with 3 fans 2 exhaust in the back, one intake on the side. You can add two more in the front.
It also comes with a Antec True430 psu, which is very good.
It has two drive bays, and is basically screwless, for the most part.
It also has a washable air filter in the front.
And it has two front usb ports and one front firewire port.

There's plenty of space, I personally love it.

You can get it for $112usd @newegg: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=Go&description=1080AMG

Or for $184cad @ncix: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=8420

Depending on if you live in the US or in Canada.

I agree on ATI. The GeForceFX line is really poor and seems to have some issues with the upcoming Half-Life 2, and the only one worth getting is the 5900/Ultra.
The Antec/Chenmeng/Uneec cases are very nice to work with. Unless you're routing cables behind the motherboard tray, you really don't need to remove more than one side panel.
Very nice.
I don't know what your optical drives are, but Lite-ON is pretty good for the price. You can get better if you buy a Plextor, but the price difference is more that what it's worth IMO.

Awesome

Alright so here is my near finished list (- the CD-ROM drive(s) and monitor)

ASUS MB P/N A7N8X Deluxe NVIDIA nForce2 $124.99

AMD Athlon XP2500+(1.83GHz)(BARTON) $90.00

POWERCOLOR ATI Radeon 9600 pro 256MB $179.00

Western Digital SE 80GB 8MB 7200 $77.50

Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200 $123.50

ANTEC Performance PLUS Model 112.00

706.99

This is all from newegg.com, so I haven't really shopped around, nor do I wish to. Since newegg of course has great service and products and whatnot. As you guys may have noticed I found that POWERCOLOR 9600 pro w/256MB. What do you think of that? I'm happy with everything on there, but I'm still a little scetchy about that video card. I don't really want any problems when putting this together... Thanks
~Temporal~

P.S. Would you guys buy this setup for $706?

I wouldn't get a Powercolor card. Some people found out, after buying these, that the clock speeds weren't what they were supposed to be.
I would buy a Built By Ati one if I were you. And you don't need 256mb of video memory, it's useless right now.
The Built By Ati 9600 Pro 128mb is $174 @newegg

As for your RAM, you should get 2x256mb instead of 1x512mb because you will then be able to use both channels of memory. It's doesn't give you much more performance, but since you have the possibility to have it, why not use it right ?

It seems to be a pretty good system. I personally do not like Asus, although I don't really have any reason apart from the fact that their products are feature rich and I don't need these features. And even if I did, I'd get a ABIT NF7-S instead because it performs better, and it has all the features you will need: soundstorm, sata, etc. And it's one of the best ocing boards out there.
I'm pretty sure you don't need dual lan or giga-lan. And even if you need two network cards, you can buy one for 10 bucks and it'll do the job just fine.
You need to get a rev2.0 board though, because if not, it will not support 400mhz FSB. And right now at newegg, it seems they do not sell the rev2.0 boards.