$3500 Buget for Gaming PC

Go with Q6600 instead of e6850 other then that i wish i had the money you have

in 4 months the releases will use all cores then the q6600 will better so i'd say q6600!!!! go with gtx sli man

Quad core is the way of the future, it'd be stupid to spend that much on a machine, and be stuck with past technology. You can overclock the quad core to give it more performance, but you can't add cores to a dual core. No recent game will be limited by the quad core anyway, I guarantee that, and in the future. when games do start to stress what you have, the extra cores will save you, because they will be supported by the games by that point. The Q6600 has much more raw power than the e6850.

What is the max resolution of your monitor?

As far as that case, I think it is WAY overpriced. As far as looks go, it looks more like a case I'd pay $50 for than $220, and as far as functionality, it looks good on the inside, but not $220 good

you might want to go with this case it has two power supplies to split the load. it also has plenty of cooling so you won't need the extra fans. this case comes with brackets that can help support large graphics cards like the gtx and ultra.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129028

After looking into the GTX cards more I think I will go with these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130079
over the ultras I had choosen, they are a few buck cheaper and the core clock looks to be a bit faster (looks like less power needs as well)

I think I will also switch out the power supply with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703009
people are telling me its just better quality power

woah woah... There is NO way you need 2x 8800 ultras for 1600x1200. you got the money good for you but i'm seriously suggesting not to go with the 2 ultras. and no q6700 as soon as you get your computer with one restart you could oc it to 2.66ghz

Agreeance with genericname...

OC GTX would be a better choice (after all thats what the ultras are)

The Asus P5N32-E SLI 680i is the same as a striker minus some copper and lcds.. this would be the better choice.

Dont do the P190 ive heard there are all sorts of issues with them and apparently the psu split does work well (the 650W runs the GPU's and motherboard while the 550 does only hard drive etc.) Go with your original case choice.

Everyone seems to have missed that you said

If this is true and you have the money get the Q6700 cause its always going to be quicker than the Q6600 without OCing

Good Luck man wish i had that kinda money

Zipzoom has the Raptor for $189. The Striker is one scary board. I respect Asus, but they are getting slammed with this mobo. 50% of the buyers (newegg) are sorry they bought the eye candy and the other 50 are saying this not a board for the timid. Wait till the acceptence level climbs to at least 80%.

Can I connect a standard floppy drive to a ASUS Striker Extreme Motherboard?

Dont ask, im just oldschool like that and i need my floppy drive

I wouldn't get the P190. You'll end up with two Ultras on a 550W PSU and a 650 PSU sitting mostly idle. Also, Lian-Li cases are the best. Your original case/PSU is a better idea.

Yes, the PC P&C Silencer is a fantastic PSU. That's the one I got for myself after months of research.

DDR2-800 is perfect for 2007 & no overclocking. DDR3 will be a great option in 2009, not now.

You don't need two video cards for 1600x1200. Get a GA-P35-DS3R motherboard and a factory overclocked card (eVGA 8800 GTX KO ACS3 or BFG 8800 GTX OC2).

About the CPU: Q6600 is the best choice by far. #2 would be QX6850 if you have the cash AND don't want to overclock AND you really need more power than a Q6600. If you play Flight Simulator a lot it's worth it, otherwise probably not.

OMG, I'd better sell my PSU and get one with a really kool racing stripe, what was I thinking???

on the gpu....get 1 ONE evga gtx and in a couple of months do the step-up program and get the new g92 when it comes out.( 1 g92 rapes 2 8800gtx ultra). get the q6600 and it seems you have the cash.. why not try out phase cooling. im sure you'll hit 4ghz @ -45c with a good phase cooling system. no need for a million fans. i think your wasting your money with the raptors, instead i would buy a 24" or even a 27" from dell.

My 2 cents:

1) Like everyone has said, drop the Ultras and just go with an OC GTX like EVGA.

2) For $5 more, you can get a Lite-on DVD-RW

3) For $300, I would go with the Q6600. Besides, with that mobo and CPU fan, you could easily make it run at 3Ghz without a lot of work.

You wont need a floppy drive anymore - all BIOS can be updated with a USB or CD now so it's ancient waste of space. If you get into Windows then you can update with the Asus utility and won't even need the CD or USB option.

As far as the future goes there is always something better coming out and if you wait for that you might as well wait until you die.

"I'll be building a similar rig soon.. going through the same questions- here's one- why bother getting SLI 8800s when Vista can't do SLI yet? You'd probably want Vista, what with looking towards the future.. So get one now, and when vista supports SLI, pick up the mate- no? "

I'm running SLI in Vista 64 bit right now - it even says I have 1536 (768*2) Vid Ram - Company of Heroes runs great with everything cranked to Max settings