Allo,I have posted this on other forums,Just trying to get as many view points as I can.I am going to be building a new pc as my old P4is not good enough, has been a great 5 year (6 or how ever long) run.I want to stay Intel. I have my reasons.Aslo, I don't use Western Digital HDD I have had 8 of them and all of themdied within a year of purchase...Now these are the parts I have put onto my wish list.Mobo: Asus P5Q ProCPU: Core 2 Quad Q8200RAM: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (x2 for 8GB)HDD: HITACHI 0A38016 1TB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATAPSU: Rosewill RX750-D-B 750WCase: XCLIO A380BK (firm on this too)GPU: None!!I have been an avid Nvidia user and I am really apprehensive about usingATI since I would be a new user to them. but I always try things twice!In other words I will try ATI as I can not say I have used em, but then,most games I have seen have mostly been Nvida "friendly".Now I know the P5Q Pro is X-fire ready, I have tried to find the same boardbut SLI ready but haven't as of yet.I am not interested in doing X-fire or SLI as of now. But would like to havethe option open in case I want to in the future sometime.Games building for:FS 9/XX-PlaneCity of HeroesSilent hunter seriesSims 2 (Sims 3 pre-ordered)Looking forward to Star Trek Online (watched movie last night (may 7th) and I recommend it to any Trekkie out there )As well as Jumpgate Evolution.all prioritized in the order I play most.About the Ram.I will be running Win XP Home.Can XP even use 8GB effectively or should I stick to just 4 GB?I know 4GB doesn't register. Is this even a valid concern?ORShould I upgrade to Win Vista or even Win 7 RTC?Biggest question is this: Is all this compatible? will it work well? I probably wont be able to build for another 3 years min so I hope this is what I call "future ready".Yes I know most games don't use the quad fully yet but buying a quad coreis all part of the "build for the future" I usually do.Lets just say I built this PC about 7 years ago and I am just now having to rebuild.CPU, GPU, Case is first to be bought as they are most expensive. the rest are cheap.I am on a fixed income therefore I will not OC, if I screw up I can't just buy new parts ya know!As soon as I get my stimulus money this month I am going to buy the CPU and the MOBO. So this is kind of a timely topic! :0)Xendoshi