New Gaming Rig: Criticize Please!

[Salazaar]

Well multiple core gaming is only going to increase, so if the machine core will remain unchanged for more than ~ 18 months then it's better to get the Quad (and unless all you do is game you will appreciate the extra cores anyway). Same applies to the PSU, with the added benefit that modular units are neater (and safer) and improve airflow. I'd never get a non-modular PSU again. Anyway I don't think the 450 is a Seasonic unit like the 520.

But if you're going to buy a quad for the sake of being future-proof you want to be buying one of the new Q9xxs and they cost mucho monies. A Q6600 will be no investment at all compared to what will probably be out in 18 months time.

[masscrazy]

Looks good, change HDD to staffsMike's suggestion the 500gb AAKS is the best HDD. Everything else is very good.

[Thorsson]

But if you're going to buy a quad for the sake of being future-proof you want to be buying one of the new Q9xxs and they cost mucho monies. A Q6600 will be no investment at all compared to what will probably be out in 18 months time.

All depends on your budget. A Q6600 isn't going to be that much slower for games than the new Quads, but of course if you have the money get the better CPU. I'd not advise any Quad if all you do is game and are on a tight budget.

[keef247]

if you can get high spec ram i think its worth it...
i've just got some ballistix pc8500 and i setup my rig and went right to 2.4-3.6ghz with no trouble @ high fsb's etc.. next month i'll get another 2gb and it'll be sick for 64bit and overclocking

[TooNice]

I'll third the AAKS suggestion. It's another tenner, which works out to be a better deal per GB, on top of being faster and quieter.

Personally, I don't think that the Q9450 will be much more future proof than the Q6600. I reckon that SSE 4.1 will take at least a two years to be well utilised in games. And the Nehalem is upon us (later this year).

[Salazaar]

All depends on your budget. A Q6600 isn't going to be that much slower for games than the new Quads, but of course if you have the money get the better CPU. I'd not advise any Quad if all you do is game and are on a tight budget.

I agree, the E8400 will beat the Q6600 by quite a margin in most not quad optimised situations (i.e. just about everything in gaming and most other software as well with a few exceptions). If games become heavily optimised in the next 12 month (which is unlikely, it'll probably be a much slower process) then you might see that change. The other alternative would be to buy a Q9xx but they're much more expensive and still won't perform that much better in non optimised situations.