So finally deciding to build my own computer, anyone have thoughts on the following?

Now the intent is to play new games though not necessarily the highest/most demanding ones. Just most of the ones for the mid term. Trying to hit the best value for performance as opposed to highest performance.

With that in mind, I have the following with prices from Newegg:

PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail - ($129)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core - ($199)

RAM: OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - ($45.99)

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX - ($89.99)

Vid Card: EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI ($189.99)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM - $(74.99)

So total price would be: $730 without rebates. The case I'm just going to find a decent low price case from a local store I know of.

Any opinions on this? The only thing I'm not sure about is whether to hold off on the vid card bit for a price drop in the next few months since new cards are coming out. Also whether to get a PCIe 2.0 x16 motherboard for future vid card even though its not used much now. I am planning on overclocking these a little bit.

i would go for asus motherboard they are the most reliable

Nothing jumps out as being bad, your PSU might be a little much unless you're planning on SLI down the road and given your mobo choice you're most likely not. The only suggestions I would have is spending a bit less on the PSU and get something in the 600W range it will still be more than enough.

The 600W PSU in the exact same lineup is $40 less and will make literally no difference to the final computer's performance. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

A couple of things to consider I guess.

1. Noise - Do you want a quiet case, if so go for a good quality case and get good fans also. There are some quiet PSUs also.

2. CPU - You most likely won't use all the performance from that cpu before multithreading becomes mainstream anyway so maybe consider an AMD quad or tri core or even an X2 and pocket the savings for later. Plus you get your mobo for cheaper, and this leaves you with an open upgrade path. Socket 775 is dead from the end of this year anyway.

3. You might be able to get a great deal on an 8800gts as they are EOL, they are dual slot so the 100-150 watts of heat from the video card gets exhausted out the back. Its better for the system and the cost difference isnt much more than a decent ATX fan anyway.

 I'm unlikely to use SLI (esp on this mobo) in the near future.  The main reason why I picked the 700W vs the 600W was for future upgrades.  Vid cards have climbed pretty considerably in power requirements so if I upgrade in 2-3 yrs or so, I would like being able to keep the same PSU.  After the mail in rebate (ugh) the price difference is only $24 which isn't too bad.  

Is 600W enough for the next couple years of graphic cards?  OCZ at least has minimum 80% efficiency which should help. 

 1)  I haven't really spent much time thinking about the cases.  To me, 99% of computer cases look like Darth Vader costume rejects.  I was thinking of picking up a mid-tower Xion case that was only ~$50-60 which looked decent to me.

2) I considered the quads but I don't see much benefit to them for another 2 yrs or so at least and the E8400 has gotten very good reviews and is ~$20-40 less.

3) Most of the GTS I could find were ~$50-60 after MIR over the 8800GT and based on the benchmarks I looked at, they weren't that much different in performance.  I'm opting for a slightly lower line one now and getting a better one in a couple of years. 

i have a similar setup. i got the Antec 900 case and i love it! it looks really cool with all of the lights and stuff. i have the same PSU, works great, same ram except 4 gigs of it. i have the q6600 quad core cpu which is AMAZING, if you can afford it, GET IT! its only $50 more at tigerdirect or newegg. also, dont know if your just using your computer for gaming but i highly suggest a RAID hard drive setup. i have 3 seagate 7200.10 250 gb, 16 mb cache drives and they are SCREAMING fast. even two would make a huge difference but i recommend backing them up on another drive. a good cpu cooler wouldnt hurt either, i dont know about the core duo but the quad its essential. another $50!

Current best MoBo for SLI usage?

Best cooling solution for overclocked Q6600?

for the mobo you should get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131188
its supports ddr3 for the future and is a very good motherboard for overclocking

Obviously I can't see the future but I would be beyond shocked if it wasn't tbh. The 600W PSU is still an SLI ready PSU and just like the 8800GTX when it first came out if a card is going to require more power it will almost certainly require two PCI-E's rather than creating a new standard and both of these PSUs are capable of handling that. I honestly think for your rig that the 700W is purely overkill, where as the 600W would be plenty of room for extras.

With that said there is something to be said for peace of mind and confidence in one's purchase and if you are going to do the MIRs and feel that the extra $25 is a cheap enough insurance to protect against your worries then you should get it. I personally wouldn't but I don't have to worry about it once its built.

Also I do like asus as a mobo manufacturer quite a bit more than gigabit but the gigabit board you selected is a very tested and reliable board that I've seen used quite a bit without issue.  I would only switch if you feel that the Asus board provides additional features and not purely based on reliability.  With that said no matter what brand you buy there is always a risk of a DOA, luckily newegg's RMA can sort that out in a few days flat.