High budget machine

[LeftyAce]

Hi all,

Friend of mine has $2000 to spend on a gaming rig right now (so waiting for new intel chips, windows7, etc isn't an option). This is to cover everything, Monitor, OS, Mouse&KB. With that in mind, I'd appreciate some tips, and I have some questions:

Is core i7 still more of a headache than it's worth? Should I stick with a Core2Quad?
What OS? Given that we're putting around 8GB of ram in, something 64-bit. Is Vista 64 good enough for now, until Win7 comes out? Or should he get XP 64? Or try to live with the Win7 RC (is that still available?)

Assuming Core2Quad is still the way to go, here's an initial build list. I would appreciate case suggestions; newer video cards are too long for my case (Thermaltake Soprano), other wise I'd recommend it.
Is the 1000W Corsair PSU longer than normal? It looks funny in the newegg picture.

CPU - Q9650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115130
MOBO - Asus P5Q3 Deluxe Wifi http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131298
RAM - 2x4GB Crucial http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148274
GPU - Sapphire Radeon 4890 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102847
HDD - Western Digital Green 1.5TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136351
Optical - Lite On Sata CD/DVD burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106280
PSU - 1KW Corsair http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139007

[Force Flow]

For a gaming rig, I'd probably go with a Black drive over a Green drive.

That PSU is overkill..a 500W-550W would be a better fit. 600-750W if you plan on adding more hardware.

[Jester]

Im with force. I have a similar set up and have a Corsair 620HX. 620W has never failed me and this rig is going on around 2 years. I personally would go with the core i7 or go completely left field and do an AMD build. AMDs new chips are very solid. They just got behind the power curve and intel took advantage.

Video card. Good Choice. Anyone should get a card with an HDMI port on it. You can turn the box into an awesome media center when you retire it.

My 2 cents just because he has 2k to drop on a rig doesn't mean he should. 2 years ago the rig in my sig cost me 1300 all parts from new egg. put 700 in the bank for upgrades in a couple years or a rainy day.

Unless you are going with a 64bit OS you won't be able to use 8GB of RAM, and even with Windows 7 you do not need 8GB of RAM. 4GB was more than enough to run Vista Smoothly. Windows 7 can run quite well on 2. ( I have been testing for 2 months now trust me. W7 gets flakey when you try to go below 2 and 4 is certainly recommended for gaming.)

Finally, "Right Now" is the worst phrase in the english language. You are building a system so you will not get a free upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. W7 is far better than Vista, and is the suitable upgrade from XP that vista failed to be. Wait until october unless you have a spare OS laying around.

[LeftyAce]

Ooooooook, I've talked him away from the ledge, and he's ok to wait 'till October for Win7 and the new Intel sockets, and all the price and performance fluctuations that will bring.

Thanks for the input, and sorry to have it be a bit of a waste at this point (although I guess saving $2k isn't really a waste).