Advice on new gaming rig

[Arctic]

Hey everyone, so it's the same old story. I'm a longtime MySuperPC reader who's used the site a couple times in the past to upgrade my old PC (I replaced my Radeon 9000 with a GeForce 6600GT last year, for example), and now I'm thinking about building a new PC to replace my aging previous homebuilt (which was assembled by a friend, not me, though; I'm mostly new to this). I spent half the night looking up recommendations and browsing forum archives, my head is fairly pounding with information, and I still have a bunch of questions. A little help would be much appreciated!

My deal is that I'd like a new gaming rig which I'd also use for everyday purposes: web browsing, messing with Photoshop, etcetera. Not top of the line but something that could last say 3 years, and with occasional upgrading still be able to play games 5 years from now on decent settings. I'm aiming for about $1000-$1200, but I could extend a bit if it's worth it.

My current, sketchy system plans divide into two areas, based on the processor:

Either this:

Motherboard: Not sure. Whatever's good and fits with the other components.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029)
RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034)
Video card: eVGA Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3 PCI-E (either here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130038) or here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082), they have minor differences)
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136039)
Power supply: Hiper HPU-4S730-MS ATX12V v2.2 730W Power Supply 100 - 240 V (either here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128008) or here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128009), again the options are a little different)
Case: Probably the Antec 900 or the Thermaltake Xaser III

Or this:

Motherboard: Again, whatever works.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (Kentsfield) 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017)
RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145033)
Video card: Same as above
Hard drive: Same as above
Power supply: Same as above, if it'll still suffice
Case: Same as above

Now, my thoughts on all this:

Processor: Basically, the whole split is about the processor. I'm not sure if it's worth it to me, with my hopes of this computer lasting 3 years and all, to go for the Core 2 Duo or quad core. That splits up my choices of both motherboards and RAM, and possibly the power supply. What do you guys think? Which way should I go?

RAM: Now as near as I can figure out, the PC2-8500 would work with the Core 2 Duo processor, but it would knock down its performance to act like PC2-6400 RAM instead; in other words it would be a useless expense. It would, however, work fine with the quad core.

Motherboard: If I go with the Core 2 Duo, I might get the ASUS P5N32-e SLI, since it would fit well with the PC2-6400 RAM. If I go with the quad core, I dunno.

Video card: Everyone seems to agree that the GeForce 8800 GTS is a good buy at the moment. Or, I could try the GeForce 7900 GS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130056) for half the price...

Power Supply: 730 watts should suffice for the 8800 GTS on the Core 2 Duo, but I'm not sure how much I'd need with the quad core instead. Also, the reviews of the Hiper I'm looking at are kind of, well, divided: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128009.

Whew. So, all that said, what do you guys think?

[Jamie Nixx]

Personally i would go for the corsair ram, i have it myself and its great, best ram i have ever had and it works fantastic whether your using a quad core or a core 2 duo.

Go for the quad core if its near to the price of the E6750.

Get an Asus P5N-E SLI Motherboard (this is really good for core 2 duo or Quad core)

Get a 7900GS if you want a card that will play anything on high graphics but a reasonably cheap solution.

Defiantely get the Antec 900.

Power supply is very good, i have a Hiper in one of my gaming rigs, one of the best makes out there.

HD is good.

If you want detailed info just ask, so i can bust out the coffee and get my typing fingers out :p ;) :D

[Arctic]

Thanks a lot, that clarified a number of things for me. I'm leaning towards the quad core with the PC2-8500 RAM. Still a few questions though, I'm afraid. I guess I'll enumerate them for clarity.

1 -- I checked the costs on the processors, the quad is only about $90 higher. I'm wondering, would the difference between the two processors be noticeable? One's a 2.66 GHz duo and the other's a 2.44 GHz quad... Does that mean that to get the proper speed you would double 2.66 and quadruple 2.44? Okay, obviously not, that was a rhetorical question, but I really have no idea how much of a speed difference there would be. Sorry, I'm used to Socket A processors.

2 -- Asus P5N-E SLI, I looked it up on Asus's site, nice motherboard! But I couldn't figure out if it would support the PC2-8500, or if it was topped out at PC2-6400.

3 -- About that power supply, I liked it but I was a bit disconcerted by all the negative reviews it got here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128009). Any advice on that?

4 -- And finally, I couldn't tell which of the two video card links (or which of the two power supply links) I gave was better. Confusing Newegg search results. Sorry about these trifles.

5 -- I've heard a lot of disagreeing opinions on various cases around various tech forums. Some people love the Antec 900, some people hate it, some recommend the classic Antec SOLO, it's quite nuts. I guess I will try the Antec 900 though. Not really a question as such, more a note.

Thanks again!

[Jamie Nixx]

1) I would go for the quad core, as it is much more future proof than a core 2 duo.

2) The board tops out at 800MHz AKA Pc-6400 ram, but this won't make much difference if you are using the corsair ram, i am using a Quad core in mine with that ram.

3) Power supply, if you are going for a 7900GS get a Hiper type R 580w modular psu. If your going for the 8800GTS go for a decent power supply at least 700 watts in power. Look at some other threads for my recommendations on power supplies to get.

4) The links you gave were basically the same for both the psu and Graphics cards.