Preparing first Gaming PC

My PC burnt out last year and I'm finally building a budget Gaming PC for $800~. Even better if I don't break 800 dollars so I can get myself a decent 1080p monitor with 5ms or so.

So basically I want either a Q6600 or an E8400 processor, but leaning towards the Quad since I want to play all the newer gen games. I also want a 1GB 4870 since I want to play Fallout 3 on 16x10 with max settings and a good framerate. I'm scared the e8400 won't play games like STALKER as smooth as the Quad though.

Basically, the problem is I'm getting the PC built for me since I'm clueless and was told to pick out the CPU, GPU and mother board for them. Any recommended mobo's for crossfiring two radeons when I can afford another one? Also, what power supply/fans should I look into so I don't go so cheap that I bottleneck (whatever that means) or under power my system?

Specs I'd like:
E8400 or Q6600 (sortofwant quad)
? mobo
Radeon 4870 1GB
Vista 64bit (i'll need to buy it also)
4GB RAM

That's about as much as I could put together on my own and I'm still clueless and unable to build this thing without help. Any help is appreciated.

drop any thoughts of quad, you will have to wait few years until it'll be of any use, same for vista, there just aren't any dx10 games that make it worth to use vista

>>2
Ignore this nigger. Except for the bit about vista.

A) Q6600 is 65nm outdated nonsense. Get a Q9550. Its more, but its better.
B) You'll never know when you're going to need extra cores.  If you multitask, its necessary. And really the price difference is not that much.

4870 is a great card, but people have driver issues. If you think that might be a problem for you get an EVGA GTX 260 core 216.

For motherboards, gigabyte. P45 or x38/x48 chipset for crossfire.
Cases - P180, CM690, Lian-Li

Power supply - Corsair, Power & PC cooling, Thermaltake, OCZ, Seasonic.
If you decide to crossfire, get a 600watt. If you dont, get a 500.


And pick up a decent heatsink.  I use a Zalman 9700, and it treats me good.

I just did the exact same thing as you OP, 800 dollar computer and 330 dollar 27.5 inch monitor.

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MVGSBG/article.php/3785166

I followed that pretty closely.

I would agree to get the HD 4870 1gig I love mine (no driver issues).
I got a E8500 but the E8400 will be more than enough for what you describe.
I suggest using windows 7, its free and it's great so far.
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P is a good mobo

Everything else doesn't matter to much.

also OP,

Dell Home has the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz LGA 775 Dual Core Processor at $179.99 - 30% off coupon code 739PKVBXNL?Z3L (Exp. 3/26) = $132.99 with free shipping. Features: 3.0GHz operating frequency, Fits Socket LGA775 motherboards, 6MB L2 Cache, Wolfdale core, Heatsink and Fan included.

http://www.passwird.com/redirect.php?linkID=28782

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