I need opinions on this rig.. I'm possibly opting go for this instead of a laptop -- as I don't think I'll be using a laptop in class at the new school I will be transferring to. I want to be able to do some moderate gaming on it...

Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8200 ((4x 2.33GHz/4MB L2 Cache/1333FSB)
4 x 2 GB DDR3 - 1333 Corsair Ram
1GB GeForce 9500GT
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3LR -- Intel P45 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, PCI-E MB
500watt power supply
320GB hard drive

Cost will be around $850 including monitor...
Let me know if you think this is a decent build

Get a Core 2 Duo, and get a better video card.

Alright, can you just clarify why? I'd like to know more in general about the differences between what I have there and what you're suggesting so I know more about things in general

Could go for an I5 750 quad, Mine was around 200$, 250$ for a mobo.
Hell of a lot faster then that too.

Bumpasaurus.. Some good input (EX: not from tibby) would be great.

Wow, Last time I try to help you.
Jackass.

Pfft.. take a joke kid

There's not much of a reason to have a quad core versus a dual core, they suck more power and most apps won't benefit from it (unless you multitask more than 2 demanding apps at once).

You should definately go with a high end graphics card, I'm using an x1950 pro that I picked up 2 years ago for $200 and even though it doesn't have dx10 support it still works great for what I need it for.

Do you have any suggestion for the card? GeForce vs ATI? And I atleast want to go with a 1Gig card

graphics card ram isn't really that important, as long as it's independant (basically not an integrated card)

theres not much of a huge difference between ATI and NVidia quality wise, whats most important is that you buy your card from the right manufacturer (sapphire for ati, evga for nvidia in my experiences are good)

Nvidia has better drivers, ATi has better technology and price/power ratio.
i5 quads have the ability to auto-OC to 3.22 if it sees a program using 2 or less cores.

I can't stop helping...

Anyone have any say on the GeForce GTX 260 (EVGA Superclocked edition), or the the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 (2x 3.0GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) ???

For how much are you getting them?

$190 on the graphics card, $170 on the CPU

The E8400 and GTX260 are both excellent choices for gaming.

Ahhh now that's what I wanted to hear! Thanks.. If you guys have any more suggestions it will be a couple weeks before I build this sucker

A 5770 will be faster, for around 20 bux less.
Look into it.

I've got the e8400 and a 1 gig 4870 (which is on par with the GTX260 performance wise) and I am able to burn through new games (Borderlands, Dragon Age to be specific) with all the settings maximized.

Awesome!! This is great, because I wanted to particularly be able to play Dragon Age on this new rig. Thanks alot! That's some great clarification.

5770 1 Gig is cheaper and faster, if you want to ignore me just because of who I am then go ahead, your loss.

Sorry I missed your earlier post! i'll check it out man