Hello,

I was thinking of putting together a new system and wanted to know what would be better, primarily for gaming..

Which CPU would be better?
E8600
Q9550

Im also thinking of going with just 1 ATI 4870 X2 Video card so I have these questions:

1. Whats an appropriate PSU?
2. Since I dont think I will be doing any crossfire, what would be a good motherboard to get?

Thank you for your help

A P45 or P43 mobo would work pretty well.
PSU size calculator: http://www.extreme.outervision.com [...] orlite.jsp
550W-600W would probably be a good size. Don't buy a cheap one.
People will tell you that the e8600 would be faster in current games. If I were the one buying, however, I would choose the quad for much greater future-resistance.

So the Corsair 1000w PSU I was thinking of is overkill?

Also. what would be the performance difference in going with the quad core over the e8600.. could the quad core be OC'd enough to make up the diference? .. Just wondering about options etc..

oh.. also i was thinking of a 24inch LCD monitor.. is the one 4870 X2 powerful enough to push the resolution at high frame rates?

Yes it will be fine for the 24 inch monitor.
couple of power supplies i'd recommend from lowest to highest for a HD4870 X 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703009

Great thank you

Last question I think...

Memory Suggestions? Corsair Dominator?

well not much help but i just built a machine with a q9550, a 4870x2 with 8gb OCZ 6400 ram. I use a 750 PC&P PSU.

runs fine, depending on the game and settings 19x 12 is no problem, runs the witcher very well at max and given a little testing of the crysis demo run it at playable fps everything set high.

try and get a case with good airflow as the gfx card needs cooling due to ati being very foolish and worry about noise rather than temps, have no idea why they chose that decision but they did, idling at 65C here, can be 87 at startup, just plain crazy.

The case I was considering is the CoolerMaster Cosmos Silent Gaming Tower Case

Maybe I should try and list my build to help clarify some things..

Case: CoolerMaster Cosmos Silent gaming case
PSU: Corsair 750tx
CPU: Q9550
Mobo: Asus P5Q Pro?
Gfx Card: ATI 4870 X2
HD: pair of 320gig in Raid 0
HD2: 750gig
Optical : LG 20X Double Layer DVD+-RW Super Allwrite + Lightscribe
OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit
Ram: 4-8 gigs of ..???
Monitor: 24 inch of some type...

I plan to spend in the neighborhood of $2500 so any further suggestions would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

I figured having the 4870 X2 would be enough power, so I wasnt planning o crossfiring, with that in mind would it bebette to actually crossfire with two 4870s and use the Asus Rampage Formula as the mobo? If I did that how would i effect other things.. especially the PSU?

i wouldn't crossfire unless you actually need it, just stick to one card, apart from crysis at very high one x2 is sufficient.

any other suggestions? Also whats a decent 24 inch LCD? I hear Dell makes good LCDs is that true?