Need help with gaming pc build!

Here's the thing. I'm on a budget of £800/$1600.

I'm trying to get the best gaming PC I possibly can, I've been looking into what gives a PC the best type of performance in a game.

So far I've been looking at:

OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5400 - 4gig in 2 ram slots is great, If I ever need more for vista or anything, which I may actually not, then I can add more. This kit can do all the over-clocking I want it to do as well.

Core 2 Quad Q6600 - Seems the most logical choice, even though I'm on a budget after the July price cuts it shouldn't be too much out of the way.

OCZ StealthXStream 600W PSU - More then enough power for what I'm buying and over clocking capability.

8800gts 320mb - w/e brand has the cheapest for sale. I wont be using it any any time with more than 1280x1024 resolution so I don't really need the 640meg version which costs roughly £50 more.

Motherboard - I CANT decide on this one. I've been looking at the XFX 680I LT edition because it seems to have everything even a SLI slot for an extra card if I ever need it. I honestly cant decide though.

Things like case and CPU cooling etc are quite cheap so I've decided on them already, Antec 900 case if anyone is interested.

But apart from that, none of that other stuff is for sure, it comes OVER my budget by about £100 if you include the July price cuts. Which is too much I honestly cant stretch over £800 that's pushing it right to the limit.


Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I aren't worried too much about future proofing such as ddr3 etc, ddr2 seems easily capable for anything out or will be out in the future.

Thanks a lot guys.

I have vista 64bit installed on one of my computers and ill be using it on this one, must say I think the incompatibility is greatly used a reason why vista "sucks" and its nowhere near as bad as its made out to be.

Of over 50 programs only one hasn't worked.

So yeh, using vista 64 so 4gig ram is a must with that

And it also leaves the option to upgrade to 8gig of ram in the future. Now it may not need that, but whats the harm lol, im sure at some point new programs will benefit from it.

Vista might love it I havent seen any reports of people using 8gig on vista 64.

I haven't had any problems with 64-bit vs. 32-bit game compatibilities yet.

As for OP, I'd suggest 2gb ram now(maybe 3), upgrade later. 4gb is quite a bit, and unless you plan to do some serious visual editing or something of the sort, there's no reason for it. Will also probably save you a fair chunk of $.

I'd also look for a cheaper mobo that fits all your needs as best as possible (the P35 series is pretty attractive right now).

check the benchmarks for the g80's on vista 64. they underperform compared to xp. i poked around at anandtech i believe it was where i saw this.

can you provide the link? Is it new or old news?