Hello everyone.

Sorry if this is a rehash, but in my searches I did not really find anything recently that quite seemed to cover my situation. I am potentially looking to build a new machine and a few questions. My computer will primarily be used for gaming and programming. I am basically looking to find the components that will maximize value over the next 2 years (at which point, I envision building another value-centric machine).

These are the parts I am leaning towards for reference (and feel free to chime in if you have any strong opinions one way or another).

Hard Drives: 2 Raptors run as a Mirror (already own them)
Video Card: Leaning toward an HD 4850 (one in the ~$160 price range - seems like the best value in a card)
Monitor: 19 inch LCD (non-widescreen), maybe a 22 widescreen LCD if I splurge
Motherboard: Perhaps a P35 (along the lines of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128337 )
CPU: Q6600, E8400, or E8500?

1.) Considering my two main focuses are on gaming and programming, what processor makes the most sense if I would want to do easily attainable overclocking? My inclination is toward a Q6600 to improve multitasking performance (especially during compiles) and to take advantage of when games start using multiple cores.

2.) If I decided I did not want to overclock, which processor would make the most sense?

3.) Is an OEM processor and an after market cooler the best option for easily attainable overclocking (If so, what is the after-market cooler of choice)? How far would I be able to push the CPU safely/reliably on the retail cooling?

4.) Is now a good time to purchase a CPU? It sounds like it will be more than a few months before the Nehalem will push down prices on the existing processors (due to more demand than supply in the early stages). I ideally do not want to wait more than 3 months unless it offers some big advantage. Should I expect prices to drop any more, or have they effectively bottomed out for the time being?

Thanks for any help you can give.

1) an E8400 would be a better choice. if you try hard enough, you can get it up to 4Ghz. and the Q6600 would only be faster in applications that support more than 2 cores, which isn't very many at this time.

2) even if you don't plan to overclock, the E8400 should still be the better choice, especially since you wanna use this computer for gaming.

3) it is the best option, but an OEM cpu comes with a much shorter warranty.

4) The prices of the core 2 cpu's should drop considerably after core i7 comes out because it'll become "last gen" hardware. it may be worth waiting to see what happens. it might just be worth it.