q6600 correct? -- If you're going for best video card -- I'd rather look at the Q9xxx series of processors before the q6600 :\ -- As far as graphics cards though, there's a nice lil chart just came out today:
The 9800GX2 is the best card currently on the market. If you want slightly better performance at around the same price, two 9800GTXs in SLI will outperform it. The same might be true for 8800GTXs, but I'm not sure.
For a true single card solution, the 9800GTX is the best card right now, usually a hair ahead of the Ultra. The 8800GTS 512 is a better deal, though. Once you OC it to 9800GTX speeds, it's actually faster due to the latency on the GTX.
For one he really should have 4GB of memory. Looks like you won't have much money for a video card the way you are going now. You will need for 19" LCD 150.00 and a keyboard and mouse worth anything will be 50.00 and windows 120.00 and case 50.00 and PSU 100.00 and HDD 80.00 and speakers 50.00 So you have already spent (all figures are rough estimates)
700.00 Mobo, Mem and CPU (per your statement)
150.00 Monitor
50.00 Keyboard and Mouse
120.00 Windows
50.00 Case
100.00 PSU
80.00 Hard Drive
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Total is 1250.00
So you have -50.00 to buy a video card Oh and you will probably have to pay shipping on a lot of that so add another 30.00 so you are at -80.00 with no video card.
For that budget you really can't go with the Intel Q6600 on a GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 LGA with 2gb of memory and everything else. Of course all those figures are just estimates.
I would however suggest a 8800GT to lower the cost of the build. I have built a PC with 2 of them in SLI and another PC with a single card and even one card alone is pretty strong and the price is VERY low considering the performance.
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GIGABYTE p35 ds3l-- e8400 wolfdale-- 4 GIG RAM g.skill 800 -- xfx 9800gtx 512-- OCZ 700 POWER SUPPLY---NZXT Apollo BLUE NP Blue SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower---acer 2216 wide screenl---logitech 3000 keyboard and mouse--- vista 32 bit
