Hello. I know these questions get asked all the time, but I need some help. I am thinking of getting a new computer, mainly for gaming, word processing and web surfing, etc. I would appreciate some feedback on what I am thinking of putting together since I am by no means a computer expert. Would this system be overkill to run most games maxed out? Is there anything I can swap out to save money and still get good performance? Anyways, here is what I am thinking about:



PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Quad-Core Processor Q9550 at 2.83GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 12M Cache

POWER Cooler Master Real Power Pro nVidia-SLI Certified 1000Watt Power Supply

MB CORE LOGIC MSI X48 Platinum Intel X48 DDR3 w/1600MHz FSB & Gen 2 Crossfire

MEMORY 4GB Corsair TWIN3X2048-1333C9 CL9 X 2 DDR3 1333MHz Memory (4 X 1024MB)

VIDEO CARD CROSSFIRE SLOT 1 ATI Radeon HD4850 512MB DDR3 @625MHz w/PCI Express, DVI and TV Out

VIDEO CARD CROSSFIRE SLOT 2 ATI Radeon HD4850 512MB DDR3 @625MHz w/PCI Express, DVI and TV Out

OPTICAL DRIVE 1 ASUS Internal SATA 2014BLT 20X LIGHTSCRIBE DVD+/- RW + CDRW Rewritable Drive

OPTICAL DRIVE 2 ASUS Internal SATA 2014BLT 20X LIGHTSCRIBE DVD+/- RW + CDRW Rewritable Drive

SOUND Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Retail Edition

MONITOR Viewsonic VG2230WM 22" Widescreen 1680X1050 700:1 5ms LCD Monitor

SPEAKERS Altec Lansing V2421W 2.1 3-Channel Stereo Speakers w/Subwoofer KEYBOARD Logitech G15 USB Gaming Keyboard w/LCD

OPERATING SYSTEM Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Professional Edition w/Original Disc

Thank you for taking time to read my post and help me.

You're overspending on the non-gaming factors: cpu, ram & mobo. You can build a much faster gaming pc if you swap those out for less expensives ones and use the savings to upgrade the gpu's.

Q9450
GA-EX38-DS4
DDR2-1066MHZ+
HD 4870
HD 4870

Thank you for the advice. Would I be better off with:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8500 at 3.16GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6M Cache or a Core 2 Quad Q9450 at 2.6GHz?

both are good but the Q9450 will be better for the future but then again all intel procs will be obsolete when nelaem comes out. a 4870x2 will better than 2 4870s

Sorry to keep bothering you guys. I do appreciate the responses. I have another question. What is the difference between the

Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 at 2.40 and the Core 2 Quad-Core Q9450 at 2.66. Is one of these better than the other?

Thanks again.

Q6600 is 65nm which is hotter than Q9450 45nm. The latter is a bit faster in video en/de-coding. However, the 1st is x9 whereas the 2nd is x8. So x9 can archieve a higher overclock with a lower FSB. i.e.:

9 x 400 = 3600 or 3.6ghz
8 x 400 = 3200 or 3.2ghz

Any 800mhz ram can do 3.6 on Q6600. It's money-saving. You'll need faster ram to do 3.6 on Q9450:

8 x 450 = 3.6ghz