[-0MEGA-]

To add on to what I said earlier, I usually go into the BIOS and mainly check the temps, to make sure that all the coolers were installed right and something didn't go wrong.

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Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.83GHz
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
ATI HD 3870 GDDR4 @ (840/2332)
4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2-850
500GB SATAII HD w/16MB
SilverStone 750W +12V@60A
3DMark06: 11593

ComputerGuru64x2

I go into BIOS to make sure everything is being read, (RAM, Opticals, HDD, Fans, CPU). Then I configure boot settings, alarms, and other BIOS settings. Usually then I install the OS. Then I install drivers, get the ethernet working and then games, Microsoft Office, secuirty updates, then I'll reboot. After that, my favorite part: Overclocking.

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Gaming System/Media Center
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Windsor @ 2.2Ghz Socket AM2
MB: Abit AN-M2HD nVidia GeForce 7050PV nForce 630a HDMI mATX
RAM: 2Gb(2 X 1Gb) OCZ Platinum Revivsion 2 PC2 6400 @ DDR2 880 (3-4-4-15)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 80Gb 7200RPM IDE
GPU: MSI GeForce 8600GT 256Mb DDR3 128bit
OD: LG DVD-RAM Black Sata
Case: nMEDIAPC HTPC 200BA Black
Speakers: Logitech X-240 2.1

JohnJSal

It's called Building the Perfect PC, 2nd Edition, from O'Reilly. The ironic thing is that there are six different "projects" that each build a certain type of PC, and they don't mention this detail in all of them, so it's inconvenient if you happen to just read one chapter instead of two or more.