You make a good point. Well, here's the old mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130184&Tpk=msi%20p45%20neo2

And here's one I'm looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131297

$50 price difference, but I can't tell what the extra features are. I'm not really sure what I need on a mobo; I know I want it to support 16gb of DDR2 800 RAM.

Speaking of which, that new board I'm looking at has a memory standard of DDR2 1200; does that mean that DDR2 800 RAM won't work on it, or won't work as well, or does that make no difference?

Again, thanks to everyone who has been helping; I'm keeping notes on all this good info :)

Hi. I'm building a PC and I'm considering going for 16gb of RAM (I know, I know, but still :)) Does anyone have 16gb of RAM? I found one from G-Skill at newegg for $500, but apparently a new kit from OCZ will be out soon for about $380.

Just wondering if anyone has it, what brand and how much was it. Thanks for looking!

Hello and thanks for looking. This will be my first PC desktop build. I'm doing this mostly for the quickest, most efficient Autodesk Maya workflow (3D app.). Here's a list with links of the parts I want and have done some research on:

CASE: Antec P182 ATX Mid Tower - $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025&Tpk=antec%20p182

MOBO: MSI P45 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130184&Tpk=msi%20p45%20neo2

POWER: HIPER Type M HPU-4M880 880W Continuous @ 40°C ATX12V - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128010

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 - $550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115130

RAM: G.SKILL 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231183

VIDEO: EVGA 01G-P3-1284-AR GeForce GTX 280 SSC Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported - $500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130368&Tpk=evga%2001g-p3-1284-ar

HD: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - $290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260&Tpk=western%20digital%20velociraptor%20300gb

CD/DVD: ASUS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 14X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135156

MONITOR: Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD - $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094&Tpk=AL2216Wbd

Standard mouse, keyboard, speakers

Aprox. Total: $2500 out of $3000 budget

Specific questions:
1 - Will everything fit on that case? I think so
2 - Considering the CPU, case, power supply and video card, do I need more fans?
3 - Are there any parts that aren't compatible with each other? As far as I can tell, everything should work (not a lot of PC hardware knowledge here, but I did a lot of research)
4 - I want Vista Ultimate 64-bit; which one from newegg.com should I get? Retail or OEM? What's the difference, and which one is the one that installs with a bunch of stuff that you don't really need?
5 - Am I missing anything? Do I need anything to use the internet? I have a router and DSL internet.
6 - Any good places that can put it all together nicely? I coudn't possibly even consider trying

Any advice, tips and comments are very welcome; I need as much help and advice as I can get. Thanks a ton for taking your time to help!