[air23blc]

I have decided to go with the Core 2 Duo E8400 6MB (Wolfdale) for the processor: I have 3 questions that I think you guys can help with. The computer is going to be used mainly for gaming more specifically WOW. Price is not necessarily an issue just looking for something that will maximize FPS along with stability.

1. What motherboard? I was thinking the P5Q Deluxe from Asus, but I have heard some horror stories about the BIOS being a pain to configure with XP or Vista.

2. What video card? I am leaning towards NVIDIA and possibly a series 9 for the future so it won't need to be replaced for a couple years. However, I am unsure there may be a less expensive or better option out there.

3. What RAM? I definently want to go 4 GB here even though XP only runs about 3 at most.

Any help is appreciated just kind of confused where to go for this build as it will be my first.

Few other specs of things I have decided on:

1. Antec Neopower 650w Power Supply
2. Antec 900 Tower
3. Stock Cooling

[air23blc]

EDIT

Maybe a slight chance I found a combo deal at newegg.com which paired the

E8500 with the Asus PQ5 Pro for $275 after rebate, which is cheaper than buying the E8400 and Asus PQ5 Pro separate ($305).

[Adak]

Since the rig is going to be used mainly for gaming, and your primary concern is FPS, I believe you should ask these questions in a gaming-oriented forum, not a folding@home forum.

Don't ask "What RAM?", because your mobo choice will determine what RAM you should use -- always. You get the RAM that the mobo maker recommends. That's the RAM that the mobo has been tested with. If they say "Crucial 1054Z", then get "Crucial 1054Z", etc. 4GB of RAM is obviously correct. You always want your RAM banks (you'll have two of them), either full, or empty, never half full, always balanced, and never non-interleaved. So you'll have 2 slots per bank, you'll want either 2 slots full of RAM or 4 slots full of RAM, not 1 slot or 3 slots full.

Your should choose a power supply AFTER you choose all your peripherals, especially your video card and mobo. Look and see what power supply will give you: 1) the power you will need, (including the number of rails it uses), with at least a little bit of room for future growth, and 2) the number and type of connectors your mobo and video card will require.

You should know that all power supply makers lie their butts off, (except PC Power & Cooling, and they have been sold, so be sceptical of them, as well). When they're not lying, they're misleading. My Corsair 750 model power supply for instance, will NOT generate 750 watts of power -- of course. (and Corsair is a highly rated power supply brand.)

Good luck with your build, and happy gaming. If you PC gets bored, I hope you'll check out one of our distributed computing teams: Folding@Home, SETI@Home (bring your tinfoil hat), or Rosetta@Home.

[SniperXX]

You may want to pm a mod to move this to the General Hardware section.

http://www.ocforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

Just dont double post.