ok, thanks for all your help, here is a suggestion for a final system.
do you see anything that will not work with each other or major errors?
ps - although new egg is awesome, i'll be picking up this stuff from a store in toronto in a few days...
OS - win XP pro 32-bit
MOTHERBOARD
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L Intel LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX - $100
PROCESSOR
socket LGA775
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 Socket LGA775, 2.66 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache, 45nm (Retail Box) (BX80570E8200) $200 - 3 year warranty
RAM
Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel - $90
VIDEO
BFG
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512mb, PCI-express 2.0 x 16 - $200
hopefully this won't be too noisy
HARD DRIVE
western digital caviar 500 gig SATA $80 - 3 year warranty
OR
seagate barracuda 500 gig SATA $80 - 5 year warranty
DVD/CD R
will get one in the store - $35
POWER SUPPLY
ATX - will ask in store - $100
CASE
ATX case - check in store - $100
what do you think? ok, not bad, total crap????
this should last my dad 2-3 years no worries