New System Build: $650 - $700 Remaining Budget

Hi all - finally getting around to actually building my system. Since last time I was here, I've made some changes. I already have a case, power supply, and CPU cooler. I believe I'm ready to get the rest of the system all in one shot - maitaining a remaining budget of $650 to possibly $700.

I've gone back and forth on the quad-core Q6600 and the dual-core E8500. The bottom line is that I mainly need the speed for gaming. I do a small amount of encoding, but I do much more gaming - so I'm heavily leaning towards the E8500. Of course, I'm still somewhat open to either.

I'm stuck between 2 motherboards. Also, I had originally planned on getting a HD4850 vid card, but I may decide to hold off on that until Christmas - hoping for some big cuts in price. In the meantime, I think a HD3850 will suit me.

I also haven't checked the memory compatibility for the Corsair. I've seen a lot of people here buy Mushkin. Which is better?

This is mainly for gaming. I primarily play WoW, but will get Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 - and I am an FPS'er as well.

I will, in the near future, pick up an optical drive (will re-use one for the initial build), and - like I said - either replace the graphics card within a few months or get another 3850 for crossfire.

What do you think?

Motherboard (need to choose between 2):

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$126.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128344

ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$134.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128344

Video Card:

SAPPHIRE 100226L Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102715
$99.99

Processor:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $189.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115036

Memory:

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184$74.99 -$5.00 Instant $69.99

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148262$54.99

OS:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM
$99.99

Depending on mobo chosen, total comes to: $641.94 to $649.94

What do you think? Also - would you recommend more than 4GB of memory at this point, or should I wait on that?

THANKS!!

Who can arge with the Fife.

I would get the 8500 and 4850 now.
Prices always drop, but so do resell values.
So if you try and resell the GPU you get now at christmas, you will likely lose as much money as you may have gained by a 4850 price drop.

Make you life easy and get it now.
Since the card is not overpriced now, the drop will likely not be significant.

And for your 4850, here it is for $140 shipped........
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showt [...] 0&t=957247

Get a radeon 4670. its cheaper faster than 3850 in most games and also supports 7.1ch over hdmi

Well - I've ordered from NewEgg. I now officially have the tense "new-build" feeling that won't go away until I get a successful post and start-up approximately 3-4 days from now (this is only my second "ground-up" build).

Thanks for all your help! I ended up going with the Giga board, however I switched to the UD3P flavor b/c of news of slightly better cooling/OC - plus I believe it has 2 extra USB ports.

Hopefully I'll reply back in a few days with news of success.

Thanks!