ok, so i've finally got the cash together to start building my system!

but, the E8400 has stagnated too around £96 and the E8500 is now available at eclipse (http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CPI-E8500) for £99. sould i get that? or would the Q6600 be a good/better buy at £101. Machine will be housed in an antec 900 with a 750W corsair TX PSU or maybe a coolermaster 700W, since the corsair keeps changing between available and unavailable, and will mostly be used for gaming. Also i've seen that in RTS games which i like the quads do a little better than the duals.

Other specs, RAM? am going for PC6400 on a Asus x38 P5E mobo (so i can add a second card later for a cheaper upgrade). The RAM not so long ago seemed to be cheap (under £30 for 2x1GB) and seemed to be lots from OCZ, Crucial, and Corsair running at 4-4-4-12, now they're all 4-4-4-15 or 5-5-5-15/18. Would there be any noticable difference between 4-4-4-12 or 5-5-5-15? since i can still find the 2x1gb crucial balistix 800MHz with 4-4-4-12 for around £30. or should i spend another £10 and get the Corsair 4-4-4-12 DHX RAM.

I was also planning on getting the HD4870 but now the GTX 260 is only £30 more and does better in FPS games which I'm thinking of playing more.

so, E8400, E8500 or Q6600? (same price near enough)

Crucial balistix 4-4-4-12 or more expensive Corsair ram?

and finally, stick with gettin the HD4870 or get a bigger memory GTX260?
(I'm getting a 1680x1050 monitor)
(also the HD4870 can run in crossfire with the X2 beast which will probably be cheap by the time I come to upgrade)

Thanx in advance for any input and any other spec change suggestions.

Whichever RAM you choose, save potential headaches by making sure it will work at the JEDEC standard, which is 1.8V.

thats the other thing, the RAM's say

Kingston 2gb Kit (2x1gb) Ddr2 800mhz/pc2-6400 Hyperx Memory - 1.95V

Crucial 2GB kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory - 2.2v

OCZ 2GB Kit (2X1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory CL4 - 2.1V

Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 CL4(4-4-4-12) DHX -2.1 (but the corsairs all actually seem to run at JEDEC 5-5-5-18)

Where can i find the RAM's JEDEC voltages, not on the shops site or the manufacturers? (not that i've found at least)