I will be starting my first build in a few weeks, and I am curious about overclocking. Below are the main parts I am using. This build is strictly for gaming, and watching blu-ray movies. I would also like to overclock as much as possible. I want the most I can get out of this setup that's safe and not going to fry my parts.

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

Intel E8400, or should I go Q9450?

EVGA 750i mobo

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

Do you think these will overclock well together? The rest of the parts are all top notch, I have listed them before, so I won't at this point. I just want to get all the performance I can out of this build. And if I have spend a few hundred more than so be it. I am not watercooling at this point, I do not feel comfortable with it as this is my first build. Maybe later. So are these gonna overclock well? What should I change? The mobo, ram what?

If only gaming, the E8400 will get you better performance and save you some money.

E8400.

Since it has half the cores of a quad core, it will produce less heat as the FSB is increased. Less heat means higher overclock.

As an example (this are not real data), a E8400 clocked at 4.0GHz might produce as much heat as a Q9450 running at 3.4GHz. Since games do not really take good advantage of dual core CPUs, the two "extra" cores in Quad will be "wasted" for games. Therefore (for gaming purposes) the Quad Core at 3.4GHz will loose out to a Dual Core running at 4.0GHz.

As for the EVGA 750i mobo...

As long as you want to go with SLI, then sure buy it. If SLI is not in your future, then buy something cheaper. For example, I have my Q9450 in an Abit IP35 Pro which has a reputation as a very good overclocker.

I haven't OC'ed my Q9450, I'm still waiting for other part before I wanna spend time tweaking it's performance.

I'm sure G. Skill is good, I prefer Corsair XMS.

the 750i mobo is not worth it if you're not going to sli with it. i have heard/read about alot of complaints regarding the oc capability of nvidia chipsets especially the 750i and 780i. if you're looking for more oc capabilties, then try an asus, msi, or gigabyte mobo. imo asus is an excellent brand for ocers even nubs with the ai nos software.