I don't agree much with Hardie's suggestions, especially because the 9800GX2 is a complete waste of cash when the 9 series is just to bridge the gap between the 8 series and real next gen coming out later this year. A 850W PSU is complete overkill, and the RAM takes up so much space that you can only have 2 modules in at any one time.

Anyway, here are my suggestions:



The above system is very similar to my own, with the same CPU, heatsink & fan, GFX card, case, optical drive, and motherboard. You won't be disappointed if you overclock the hell out of the Q6600, mine got to 3.6GHz easily and heat was no issue at all. The motherboard is excellent, and perfect for overclocking. It does not support DDR3 or SLi, but to be honest, I feel that SLi is a complete waste of time anyway, when you might as well spend the money on a better single GFX card. The motherboard does support crossfire though, and CrossfireX when it is completed, which in my opinion looks to be better.

The RAM above is not the same as mine as I have the 8000 version, but I can definitely say that G.Skill are a good brand to go with in terms of performance memory. Make sure you go for a modular PSU by the way, makes cable tidying much easier . The GFX card is great, and is very easy to overclock to 775MHz like I have. I run everything on full graphics, with the only exception being Crysis, but then again noone can run that on full . Only things I haven't included are a sound card and operating system. I have the Creative soundblaster extreme gamer fatality and it is serving me well. Hope all that helps!