Help me build a gaming rig

[Shadowfury957]

Hey, I'm going to be buying computer parts and building a computer for my first time. It will be almost purely a gaming computer and I will be using this computer for many years (4 to 6+). I will be playing at 1920 x 1200 resolution with old games, current gen games, and future games (when they come out lol). I will be overclocking the video card and the processor.

My budget is $2500ish. If the final price is above 2500 then that's ok, but anything over $3000 is gonna be too much. I already have the display, but I need everything else.

I'm pretty sure i want a quad core (probably a q9450) and a 9800 GTX unless you guys have a better recommendation. If there's a good time to upgrade parts 2+ years ahead then I might do so (Nehalem and the new nvidia technology).

I think I want at least 2 hard drives. 1 for speed (boot files and games) and another for storage (thinking 750gigs or more).

Please help me with this build , all the help will be highly apprieciated

 

[Dangman]

Since this is your first time building a rig, I highly recommend that you read the FAQ:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1289005

 

[bennieboy2290]

The reviews I read said that the 45nm Wolfdale core 2 duos (E8400) are better for gaming than the quad cores. The quad cores are better for DVD encoding and the such.

 

[tiraides]

Read the FAQ, read a few of the "help me build" threads, including:

3000$ build first timer
Gamer looking to build a new PC. Need help.

... and come up with a list of parts of us to critique. There are several wish lists floating around here that you could use to come up with ideas.