BoxcarRichard

Hello all! I am in need of some opinions on how this gaming rig will look/perform. Please leave any comments on what would work best with the set up I have in mind or if I need to make any hardware changes, and please explain why.

Budget: $600-800 ($900 is kind of a stretch for my wallet, but I might make it happen) I want to get a computer set up for Age of Conan and WAR:Online. Does Vista OS effect gameplay performance at all?


Motherboard: XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor 2.40GHz OEM
RAM: OCZ 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 Memory (2 x 2048MB)
HDD: Maxtor 100GB (from old comp)
PSU: OCZ / GameXStream / 700-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / -SATA Ready / SLI Ready / EPS / Active PFC / Power Supply

GPU: I have a few I'm interested in and will probably purchase two of the same one and SLI

-EVGA GeForce 8800 GT Video Card - 512MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card

-XFX GeForce 8800 GS Video Card - 384MB DDR2, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card

-XFX GeForce 9600 GT Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card

XFX GeForce 8800 GS XXX Video Card - Alpha Dog Edition, 384MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card

-XFX GeForce 8800 GT Video Card - Alpha Dog Edition, FREE Company of Heroes PC Game, 512MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, HDCP, Video Card


-In need of a good CPU cooler. I've never over-clocked before, but if it can enhance my gaming performance, please recommend a cooler to OC.
-What are your opinions on Vista? I'm conflicted with whether or not to invest in this OS because I hear it has a lot of bugs. Will having Vista enhance my gaming in any way?
-The 4GB of RAM will probably be necessary if I were to use Vista, but if I used XP, would you recommend I still get 4GB RAM?
-The MoBo is XFX. Will Non-XFX GPU's work well with the MoBo, or would you recommend going pure XFX?
-Do you think I should wait a month or two to see if new computer hardware comes out, thus lowering the prices of the hardware I just listed?
-Is PCI-e and PCI-e 2.0 the same as PCI-e X 16?


I apologize for such a long post. This is the first time building a computer and I just want to get everything perfect!

I appreciate any assistance and feedback! Thank you!