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[ranger0900]

Fed up with current machine and really want to upgrade. I was going to try to wait, but I have been waiting since Christmas.

I have a Dell 2707 27" monitor, love it and want to be able to play Supreme Command and WoW in all their glory (read: with as many settings set to full or max and at 1920x1200). I don't really do a major upgrade very often. Usually just a hard drive, or new graphics card here and there.

I am open to pretty much any brand, I really just want the absolute best that makes sense for my budget and use.
Budget $2500

CPU:
$284.00- Q9300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043

Motherboard:
$100.00- GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L P35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

RAM:
$64.00 (after MIR)- CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145043

Video Card:
$120 (after MIR)- eVGA 8800 GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082

Hard Drive:
$169- 150gb WD Raptor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012

Case:
$84- COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16811119137

Power Supply:
$120 (After MIR)- Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Already have speakers, mouse, keyboard, sound card and monitor.
Grand Total: $941, much lower than my budget, so plenty of room to play around.

Final Questions:
1) I see a lot of people suggest the Q6600 a lot because it is more over clock-able? Would this be the better choice?
2) Also I assume Quad core > Dual core for Supreme Commander? What about World of Warcraft? does it take advantage of the 4 cores?
2) Tryng to stick with an Intel chipset, not doing SLI, unless suggested by someone.
3) Motherboard supports this 1066 stuff, should I just stay with 800 instead?
4) Also since memory is cheap as dirt, even though it won't recognize all of it should I go with 4GB?
5) Have no idea on the graphics card, haven't been paying attention to video card wars.

Thanks for looking, thanks in advanced for any help/guidance!

 

[Dangman]

Word of advice: NEVER count rebates untill the rebate check is in your hands. Rebates can be lost, rejected, or ignored. They are by no means a sure discount. So never factor in the rebate price until you see that rebate check. It's simply not smart shopping to factor in the rebate.

Also drop the DS3L and go for the energy efficient version:
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90

Drop the Raptor as well since it's simply not worth its price anymore. Many newer and larger drives today can perform on par with older Raptors. This is one such drive:
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $110

Better price on that PSU:
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $105

1) Main reason why the Q6600 is more recommended is that it's a bit easier to OC due to its 9x multiplier and that the Q9300 is only 7% faster than the Q6600 yet costs around $60 to $85 more.
2) Quad Core is better than dual core for Supreme Commander. However WOW will not see a single benefit from dual-core CPUs let alone quad-cores
2) For playing games at max settings at 1920x1200, SLI would be a good choice. But if you're willing to settle for lower your settings lightly, I recommend getting a single 8800GTS 512MB. That 8800GTS 320MB will not cut it at that resolution. It's also a bade deal anyway since the 9600GT is the same price but outperforms it.

If you want the max settings possible alongside best bang for your buck, go with this setup:
2 x MSI NX8800GTS 8800GTS 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $450 ($225 each)
eVGA 123-YW-E175-A nForce 750i FTW SLI Motherboard - $200
----
$650 plus tax and shipping.
3) That's a bad choice of RAM. If you're sticking withe Q9300, go with this set of DDR2 1000 RAM:
G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 1000 RAM - $90

If you switch to the Q6600, then all you need is this:
A-Data ADQVE1B16K 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $78
4) RAM is cheap so go for 4GB.
5) Like I said earlier, a single 8800GTS 512MB is a good choice if you're willing to turn down some settings.

 

[ranger0900]

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply! this was very helpful information.

 

[heatlesssun]

If you have a budget of $2500, my sig rig is only $3000. You could go with DDR2 RAM and a cheaper DDR2 motherboard and hit $2500, and that's with a QX9560 CPU! Go with a cheaper CPU and you can go well under $2500.

The 9800 GX2 is essentially the same as 2 8800 GTS 512MB the the pair of 8800's is a little cheaper.

I love my rig! It's stable and overclocking well. I not recommending it because the price of the motherboard and the CPU tend to not be acceptable to [H]'ers, they'd figure overclocking will do everything for them, and that's probably true.

The reason I got the QX9650 is for multiplier overclocking which tends to be less of a hassle than FSB and I'm happy. But you can can get similar oc results for far cheaper CPU's and motherboards no doubt.

Good luck!

 

[ilovellamafood]

With such a demanding resolution, I would say splurge first on the graphics card.

ps. I have never once had a problem with a rebate.