Please refer to the latest post of mine in this thread for latest details. Still need your help guys, and thanks so much for your comments thus far!!!
 
almost done!
 
See below please!

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L
 
e8400
 
If your gonna run things stock, don't buy aftermarket cooling...especially that one and since your on a budget.
 
Silverstone 600watt 109.  It's modular so cable management will be cake.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817163109
But if your not too worried, go with the 500watt one, non modular. 69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817256037
 
WD Caviar se16 320gb 69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136074
 
OCZ Platinum RAM, great stuff at 48.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227139
 
SAMSUNG Black 20X - $34
 
That's what i'd do anyway.

Replace the MassCool 8W553 $23 with XIGMATEK HDT-S963 92mm Rifle CPU Cooler  $25  It's a much better cooler Review
Also the stock Intel HSF will be OK unless you plan more than just a light overclock to the CPU.

PSU: Corsair 450VX $70 after rebate or Antec Earthwatts 430 $45 after $25 rebate  Either one will be plenty of PSU power.
(your current 420W PSU besides going on 3 years has only 13amps of +12v power vs 450VX=33amps and EW430=30amps)

MB and CPU:  GA P35-DS3L and E8400 @ $199  E8400 & stock HSF is probably better option than E4500 and HDT-S963 HSF if you're not overclocking.

SAMSUNG 20X DVD+RW SATA OEM (w/o lightscribe) $26 will last just fine.

P35 is enough for q6600, but if you're going for e8400, get x38/48 board instead, or it'll bottleneck your overclocking. The sole merit of e8400 is its extreme oc capacities, easily reaching 4ghz and beyond. It's senseless to spend more on a dual if you don't overclock it at least past a quad.

An x38 board is far far out of my price range. I am attempting to build the entire system under $750 shipped, with as much OC potential as I can fit under that budget.
 
How does this system look then?
 
eVGA 8800 GT 512-256bit - $115 (after a TD.com gift card)
 
Intel e8400 - $199  
 
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm - $36
 
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L motherboard - $90
 
OCZ Platinum 2gb DDR2 800mhz RAM - $49  
 
Western Digital Caviar HD se16 320gb - $70
 
SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD - $35
 
Total after Shipping: $605
 
I am trying to stay under $750 shipped. All i need now are a case and a power supply. I have $140 for the both of them, or if I can find a good case and PSU for cheaper than that, I can perhaps make some upgrades elsewhere.
 
So please, does this system look like it can last me at least 2 years, and hopefully 3-4? (with minor upgrades, e.g., more RAM) ???
 
And please suggest cases and PSU's. I was thinking perhaps this?
 
NZXT Apollo Black - $70 (20$ rebate but I literally only have $750 to spend... rebates dont help yet..)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811146025
 
Thanks in advance for replies. You all have been a great help so far!
~xRome

You'll need more than 2gb of ram. Consider this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835887011

Better cooler for the same price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

The sole merit of e8400 is its extreme overclocking(easily reaching 4+ghz), if it's bottlenecked by the motherboard and can't oc past lesser duals or quads, it's no good. For 2+ years, you should get a quad for futureproofing:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0287043

2GB of RAM is fine. You can always add more late.
E8400 will do fine for several years.  OC'd or not.  
Case and PSU:  Antec NSK6580 case and Earthwatts 430w PSU $110

Vista use 1+gb of ram at any given time. Crysis hogs 2+gb after about 2 hours of gameplay. Ram is so dirt cheap those days, don't be so stingy and risk getting bogged down by page file usage from hdd. It's not worth the price.

Dagger: How do you know a p35 with bottleneck the e8400 (not challenging you, just curious)
 
Also, the e8400 is $20 cheaper than the Q6600 on newegg. What could I OC the e8400 to on the p35? And wouldnt I get the same bottlenecking with the q6600?
 
Also, you linked another cooling unit when you said I needed more than 2gb of ram. (I will upgrade to more RAM, but likely when I have more money..)
 
WR2: I know it sounds silly when on a budget, but i really like side window cases with a little flash. But its def a great option, and i'm currently weighing it
 
Lastly, should I pony up and get a better mobo and the e8400 then? Perhaps the XFX 680i?

P35 runs at 1333mhz fsb natively, and reliably overclocks to 1600mhz. 1600mhz fsb = 4x400 = 9x400 = 3.6ghz for e8400 and q6600. The difference is e8400 overclocks easily beyond 4ghz, while q6600 cannot go much beyond 3.8ghz, with typical oc at 3.6ghz. So, it would be enough for q6600, but not for e8400. And it's senseless to run e8400 at the same clock rate as q6600, since it'll give it no advantage even on older non-quad thread programs.

680i is one of the worst chipsets for overclocking, almost as bad as 650i. You may have trouble reaching even 3.0ghz, on either cpus.

Consider x38/48:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128089
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128336

Hmm, alright then. So If I cant spend more on the mobo, which I probably can't, I should spend the extra $20 and get the q6600 and OC it to 3.6ghz.
 
How that that is all set, I need to find a fun case and a reliable PSU with at least 30a on a single 12v rail (after researching I dont want a dual 12v rails)
 
thanks for the help Dagger.  
 
Anyone ever use an NZXT apollo case?

The E8400 @ 3.0Ghz is a great chip.  There is no need to OC the CPU at all for outstanding game play.  OC'ing is just a very nice bonus.  Most of the time your GPU will be the limiting factor in performance, not the speed of the CPU.  
Vista may use 1GB of RAM but its also very good at giving back some of that when your applications need the RAM.  2GB is fine for starting out.
If you're having trouble stretching your budget consider going with the E7200 2.53Ghz Wolfdale @ $135.  

And the e8400 cost $200, for a dual core. It's sole merit is its extreme oc capacity. It's a huge waste to not overclock it. If you don't overclock, you're not getting best bang for the buck.

Eventually, it'll get old, and you might need to oc to keep up. Opting to not oc right now but keeping the option open for when it's needed, and not being able to oc are two different things.

Not correct on first two points.  3rd point handled just fine by P35-DSL3 @ 3.6Ghz - a very good bang for the buck.

A q6600 with typical oc of 3.6ghz will wipe the floor with a stock 3.0ghz e8400, even on older applications that use only one or two of its 4 cores.

If the fsb bottleneck limit both to the same 3.6ghz, q6600 will outperform e8400 even on non quad thread applications, since windows and background programs are moved to the spare cores in a quad, completely freeing up 2 cores to run the heavy program, while the dual will have to multitask on the same cores.

E8400 shines only when it does what it's meant to do, which is 4+ghz overclocking, and not bottlenecked.

The majority of E8400s (and every other CPU) being sold will never be overclocked.  That's what its designed and meant to do - run @ 3.0Ghz.
There is nothing wrong with an E8400 at stock speed (or with a light overclock or a Max OC for that matter).
Saving money by buying a P35 motherboard is not a crime, its not even bad idea.

hey guys, appreciate the spirited debate. I hope my topic isn't causing any animosity amongst you though. hehe
 
Hmm, this is making me wonder about what I had previously chosen. For the record, WR2, I am planning to OC which ever one I get, to the highest 100% stable setting that my system will maintain. if thats a Q6600 at 3.6Ghz, then great. If it is an e8400 to 3.6, and the Q6600 will outperform it with both at 3.6Ghz, then I might as well spring for the C2Q for $20. I am not even sure that I could get them to 3.6 though. My first OC attempt was yesterday with my athlon 64 3500+, and I just ran nTune on it and it did it by itself. So... yeah.
 
Sidenote... Vista uses 1gb RAM just to run? Should I just use XP 64bit instead? Are there any benefits to using Vista 64 over XP 64 (besides directX10?). If XP is more stable, and doesn't perform any worse than Vista, I'm not opposed to using XP64. I have a copy of both.

Why are you comparing cpus at different clock speeds? Those aren't the bottleneck. 3.6ghz is the bottleneck. If you're looking at stock speeds, "extreme" versions of Intel's cpus make sense because they are basically factory overclocked.

The OP clearly stated he's interested in overclocking, is on a limited budget, and wants best bang for the buck. It's okay if you don't want to overclock. But most other people want it. Please don't tell them not to.