Currently rig is:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
MOBO: A8N-SLI Deluxe
GPU: GeForce 7600 GT

i have a 550W power supply and the Thermaltake Xaser 3 "Skull" case

i'm looking to put together a system that'll last me another few years. I had been looking at the Q6600 and getting 2 gigs of ram out of the gate. And an 8800 GT for video.

Things i plan on doing with the system, play UT3 and UnrealEd, play Age of Conan, run maya and work in 3D environments


So where i need help with is this... is the Q6600 a good chip? I've seen it around the $200 mark so thats a good price for me, i'd like to get a motherboard thats under $100 if i can. Also which ram do i get? The concept of PC XXX speed ram has always confused me. Will i need a new case and power supply as well?

Thanks for any help that can be offered!

Quad cores:
Q6600 is a great chip (if you overclock it's even better).
Q6700 is a good choice too if you don't plan to OC.
Q9450 is a bit too expensive because of supply shortage.
Q9300 is something else (a good chip but I wouldn't buy one today).

The Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L is an excellent choice under $100.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128059

For RAM I recommend 2x2GB Corsair DHX C4 modules for $104 (newegg.com) after MIR.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145194
EDIT: If that is too expensive the C5 2x2GB kit is $84 after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145176

You should know that there is a MSI OC 8800GTS for around $200 on newegg.com.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127325

If your PSU has a 24pin main ATX connector and a 4 pin aux power connector you shouldn't need a new one. The case is your choice.
I think it's getting old but from what I remember about Xaser 3 it was a good case.

with that motherboard would i need anything to mount on the cpu if i were to overclock a Q6600?

also with that board would i want to get DDR2 800 PC2 6400 ram or DDR2 1066 PC2 8500 ram? and whats the main difference from them?

With the Q6600 the board I posted up before is good.
You can go with PC2-6400 RAM and you can reach upto 3.6GHz with that RAM (if your Q6600 goes that far).
You'll need better than stock cooling. This is a great value CPU cooler :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

The main difference betwen PC2-6400 and PC2-8500 is frequency.
PC2-6400 runs at 800MHz (400MHz DDR). PC2-8500 is overclocked PC2-6400 and runs at upto 1066MHz (better for overclocking 333MHz FSB chips as they have lower multipliers). The performance difference between diffrent RAM types is rather small (around 1-3%) so you can save some money here. A good PC2-6400 CL4 with 4-4-4-12 timings kit will also overclock a bit if needed that's why I recommend that RAM.