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Originally Posted by Akumulator
I do really want to play HL2 and MOA: Pacific Assault, so maybe I need to spend more...
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Oh yeah, you'll need to spend more than that to get a reasonable framerate with the new games.
If I was building a new PC just for games, you would probably need upwards of a $250 video card to get desirable performance.
As Luca said, buy a retail CPU. They're only a couple of dollars more expensive than OEM ones anyway. But about the thermal paste, you'll probaby still want to pack some away. The retail heatsinks usually use phase-change pads, which are single use only. If you manage to fuck up installing the heatsink, you'll want to thoroughly scrub the thermal pad gunk off the heatspreader and heatsink with rubbing alcohol, goo gone or acetone.
Depending on the case you get, you might also want some case fans. You don't have to go fancy here. The higher RPM fans are for insane overclockers only. Get some low RPM Panaflos or Sunons.
Get a floppy drive. ~$10. It's easier to make boot floppies (MS-DOS, DR-DOS, whatever) than it is to make boot CDs. You might need the for component firmware updates or drivers that aren't on the Windows XP Install CD.
Buy a bag of zip-ties so you can manage your cables a bit. You don't need to go overboard. Don't use zip-ties to jury-rig anything else...
If you don't get a beige case, buy components with black face-plates!