Looking for a bit of help on picking a rig

Hello, I'm looking into buying a new rig and am not really sure what I need or should want. Basicly I want to play AOC and Warhammer when it releases with as much performance as I can get but I'm still price concious to an extent. I have a 30 inch XHD3000 Gateway monitor that will accept 2560x1600 resolution and I'de like to play smooth on that or at least one step below that. What Im currently considering is:
Q6850 or a Q9850
790i mobo I think is a must with whatever I get
I have no clue on Graphics cards... A single 280x or dual 8800's or somthing between ???
probably 1000W power supply
4 gigs ram
and I currently run 10000 rpm raptors in raid zero and would never go back to a non raid zero config
My question is how do I get the most bang for my buck and have a system that will last me 3-5 years, is the Killer nic worth it? Am I going overkill?
Any advice is very helpful, Thank you

Wow thanks for the crazy fast reply.
Hard drive space isnt really an issue for me as this would be a rig used only for gaming My current gaming rig has 2 74 gig WD raptors and in almost 4 years im only at about half capacity.
Price range Ide like to get in under four grand, Ide go a little higher if theres somthing that just cant be passed over.
My real issues are on processors and graphics cards and compatibilty for the future so I can upgrade and not have to buy completly new. Basicly I need to upgrade because of directx 10 and my system is lets say last generation or before. But Ive no clue lets say for an example is it worth the price to buy the top notch processor or can I be satisfied with a quad core not an extreme?
You all will probably laugh but heres my current rig which lasted almost 4 years now:
AMD 64 3500+
Msi neo MOBO
2 x 74 gig WD raptors in Raid zero
on board sound
bfg nvidia 6800 gt factory oc'd
1 gig Crucial ballistix ram (cant remember the specs off hand, was fast 3.5 years ago lol)
very simple and cost effective cd rw drive
so as you can see this will be a major upgrade for me which I hope to last me a few years like this rig did....and this rig actually performed excellent in eq2 vanguard and WOW...lil choppy in vanguard but I think everyone was.

Thanks again for any help


Edited by Bismark - 21 Jun 2008 at 12:16pm

Ok this is what Im looking at, am I going overkill? Is the single graphics card option better than going say two 9800 gtx's.
Basicly over youe suggestion !ender im going a bit faster Ram and a 790i mobo are the only differences I see. Not sure its worth the 600 bucks.Config

Edited by Bismark - 21 Jun 2008 at 12:47pm

The Q9450 has a 8x multiplier while the Q9550 has a 8.5x multiplier. So it depends on high you want your processor clocked at but both these chips can easily hit close to 4GHz on a 790i (if you're lucky enough).

The Q9450 will become EOL and be replaced by the Q9400 this summer while the Q9550 will start to phase out (become EOL) in the first quarter of 2009. I don't know if this has any impact on your decision =\

You should probably add an dedicated storage drive if you store important stuff or a lot because if a drive fails in RAID 0, all the data is lost.

Sound depends on ear so opinions will vary.

There is a difference between the 1000W PSUs. The Corsair PSU is the only one with modular cabling. PCP&C has a single 12v rail while Corsair has two and Coolermaster has a lot.

A TV tuner lets your PC receive television signals so you are able to watch TV. Some tuners will even have time-shifting and recording abilities.


Edited by skyR - 26 Jun 2008 at 12:23pm

Thank you SkyR and Widdlecat.

So if I understand correctly a tv tuner card will have a coaxil hookup for tv cable, run a line to it and watch TV on the computer monitor?

And Razer Baracuda it is on sound, damn it will be nice to not have to screw with on board sound again, I miss those days.

Any opinions, ideas, or anyone notice anything I'm missing on the two configurations I posted? Q9550 or Q9450? does EOL really mean anything to me?

Thanks again folks