How good are these specs? Any recommendations?

[TheTorch]

I'm gonna update my rig. Any advice?

Future Stuff:
Asus Rampage Formula
Core 2 Quad 9450
Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX (C5 if its not available. Can't afford 1066MHz, plus when OCing it will have to be underclocked, so might as well OC the 800MHz.)
Corsair HX620 PSU

Old Stuff:
Antec Titan 550 Case
Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe
Athlon64 3200+ Winchester
XFX GeForce 7800GTX 512 (550/1700)
Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic
HighPoint RocketRAID 2320 SATA (PCIe 4x)
5x Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB
AOC 2217Pwc 22" LCD /w HDCP

I don't want to buy a crappy graphics card, so I think I should hold off on a card until they invent something good.
I bought my current card soon after the launch date. I was able to run every single game with maxed out graphics, 4xAA, and 16xAF, smoothly for the next 1.5 years.
I don't see the point in buying an expensive card that BARELY runs CURRENT games, and without AA. Especially when it will burn off your right pant leg from the pocket down.

 

[dagger]

Get 4gb of ram. Otherwise looks good, happy building.

 

[akhilles]

Is it a strictly gaming pc? If not, what other software do you run? Will it be overclocked & how much?

 

[TheTorch]

Is it a strictly gaming pc? If not, what other software do you run? Will it be overclocked & how much?

Its primary purpose will be Maximum-Graphics-ONLY gaming. I don't play games on "medium" etc. I only use 4xAA and 16xAF. But that dream will have to wait because I'm not upgrading my 7800 GTX 512 right now, like I stated in the original post, unless someone can convince me otherwise.

I download torrents 24x7 and torrents take up a considerable amount of CPU (even with a non-bloated client like ABC) which makes games lag. I think the quad core will take care of the torrent based lag.

Aside from gaming I often encode movies so I'd like them to encode faster. The main reason I am upgrading is because I cannot play 1080p movies greater than 8MBps on my current CPU. I was originally planning to upgrade only when a worthwhile graphics card came out, but now everyday my ancient CPU annoys me more and more (Windows lockups due to some crappy application hogging 100% CPU on a single core system).

As far as overclocking is concerned: I have no idea actually. I want to know whether the above components are good for OCing. The RAM is 4GB BTW.
All my attempts at overclocking so far have failed miserably, forcing me back to stock speeds.

My CPU will BSOD /w Machine Check Exception with even a 100MHz OC. I've ensured that my (unbranded) RAM stays below 200MHz by setting the divider appropriately, but I am still unable to OC the CPU at all. Temperature doesn't exceed 50.

My graphics card will lockup the system after 10 minutes of gaming even with a 5MHz OC. Temperature doesn't exceed 57. In fact it runs for the same 10 minutes even with a 50MHz OC. The temperature is unaffected by OCing.

 

[TheTorch]

BTW, what after market fan do you recommend if I'm going to overclock this CPU?
I'm not aiming for insane speeds, so if possible I'd like to avoid having to spend on a fan.
What speeds can I expect with from a Q9450 OC while using the stock fan?

 

[dagger]

BTW, what after market fan do you recommend if I'm going to overclock this CPU?
I'm not aiming for insane speeds, so if possible I'd like to avoid having to spend on a fan.
What speeds can I expect with from a Q9450 OC while using the stock fan?

You should get up to 2.8ghz on stock, if case airflow is good.

Good aftermarket coolers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

 

[TheTorch]

You should get up to 2.8ghz on stock, if case airflow is good.

Good aftermarket coolers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

Only 2.8GHz?? Crap. The stock speed itself is 2.66!
Then I guess I'll have to get a cooler.
I really don't think I will ever be able to get any of those coolers you mentioned in India.
We do get Zalman fans here so I thought of getting one of these:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?Idx=165
http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?Idx=168

How much cooler will the 9700 FAN run compared to the 8700 FAN?

 

[dagger]

Only 2.8GHz?? Crap. The stock speed itself is 2.66!
Then I guess I'll have to get a cooler.
I really don't think I will ever be able to get any of those coolers you mentioned in India.
We do get Zalman fans here so I thought of getting one of these:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?Idx=165
http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?Idx=168

How much cooler will the 9700 FAN run compared to the 8700 FAN?

Those are benchmarked to perform lower. Zalman isn't what it used to be. Well, actually it is the same, but other manufacturers have since surpassed it with better designs.

Do not get a cooler with top down fan, get one with side mounted, so you can aim the exhaust at a case exhaust fan.

 

[TheTorch]

Can you recommend a fan from a more "common" brand, which I might have some chance of getting here?

 

[TheTorch]

Ok I checked with local shops. They only have ThermalRight and Cooler Master.
From what I've read, Cooler Master is crap.

Any specific ThermalRight Coolers that you can recommend?

 

[DatmanII]

Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatsink
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme

 

[akhilles]

Them. I'm looking at my clone. Used to do exact same things. My current pc unrars a 700mb in about 10 sec. That's with my security apps running & checking.

The price-performance ratio for Yorkies aren't as good as that of Kentsfield. If price is no object, consider the QX9650 which has unlocked multiplier. Theoretically, it can go as high as the FSB allows. Heat will be one of the limits. If you're aiming for a light to mild o/c, stick with the Q9450.

Good coolers: TRUE (see above post), Typhoon VX, Tuniq, Xigmatek hdt-s1283.

Such as a waste. Your 939 board is one of the best, but the cpu is single core. I'm sure someone would buy them from you & swap the cpu with an Opty.

So your pc doesn't bsod at stock? If not, you might want to do a fresh install of windows.