Good man, i'll tell that some of these posts are questionable at best. 2500k is one of the best gaming cpu out for $200ish...fact! You can check all the benchmarking websites and they will say the same thing. Q6600 is still a good cpu as mentioned by gozr but I'd still love to upgrade.

Experiance alone;

ASUS Mobo's BIOS takes a long time too stabilise apon release. Gigabyte Mobo's are generally very stable.

If you want help...

Go on www.scan.co.uk, (I know you do not live in the UK but use it as a refrence). Have a look @ the most expensive 1155 Mobo's then go down to one that suite your price range and do a review search. Do the same with every componant you buy. Find one in your price and compare it too ones around.

Brands to look out for:

Gigabyte
XFX
Corsair (PSU's are brilliant)
ASUS (becareful can be quiet dodgy)
Also, I forgot to mention, invest in a GOOD case and a MODULAR PSU or you will suffer.

I will also suggest noctua air cooler

Remember, look @ your price range and compare all the products @ that price range with the aid of google. You CANNOT go wrong. I suggest you look over forums when you search them too as people always report problems. Its all about research, do a lot of it, you have time. Reviews and benchmark comparision sites are simple:

E.g: ASus mobo vs gigabyte mobo.. Theyl do a test with the same hardware (minus mobo) and who ever wins you buy on top of all the user opinions you read.

$5
ummm wrong! the AMD 6 (AMD Phenom II X6) core is $5 more than the intel 4 core (i2500)...and the L2 cache is 512 on the AMD not 256 like on the intel...and you know the L1/L2 are more important than the L3....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

this wont break the bank and can be upgraded :)

motherboard (i have this one :::::::)) $90
ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157198

CPU = $229 AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103913

VIDEO= $210 SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102909

RAM= $85 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231311

PSU= $160 SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151087

S!

Check out this thread ---> http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=19175

Here’s my new build:

MOBO: ASUS Crosshair III Formula,
RAM: 8GB G Skill DDR3 1333,
CPU: AMD 965 Phenom II - 3.4GHz Quad-Core,
Cooling: ZALMAN 9500AT,
HD: WD Black Edition, 1TB games and 500 GB operating system and programs,
GPU: EVGA GTX 570,
CD/DVD: LG with LightScribe,
Sound: Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro,
PSU: Corsair HX Series 850HX Modular,
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 590,
Windows 7 64-bit,

XFX is nothing special, I would put them on the lower end of the list.

Big plus for the Noctua coolers.

heres my spec:
Windows 7 ultimate 64bit
ie8
msi geforce gtx 460 hawk"talon attack"1024mb
asus m4n82 deluxe nforce980a sli
Amd phenom II quad core 955 black edition @3.2 ghz(not overclocked, YET!!!!)
corsair XMS2 4gb ddr2 pc2-8500c5
Akasa venom cpu cooler
Inwin Ironclad full tower case
WD 500gb hdd

runs COD quite well. hopefully better when multi-core is sorted.

what would you guys pick out of these: Bear in mind the Intels dont come with ram so you need to buy that also....:

Asus Intel 2nd Generation P67 Bundle (Includes P8P67 PRO Motherboard & Core i5-2500 3.30GHz Processor) (NO RAM INCLUDED)
£300.06

or

Asus AMD Gamer Bundle (Includes M4A87TD EVO Motherboard, AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2Ghz & 4GB DDR3)
£269.98

or

Asus Intel Performance Bundle (Includes Asus P7P55D-E LX Motherboard & Intel Core i5 760 2.8 GHz CPU) (NO RAM INCLUDED)
£244.98

or

Asus AMD Ultimate Bundle (Includes M4A77T Motherboard, Phenom II X4 955 3.2 Ghz & 4GB DDR3 [2x2GB] Memory)
£240.00

Look at it in terms of bang per buck please, as im on a very tight budget. And im not into Overclocking, i like my processors to last many years.

My Current specs are within the min requirements to run IL2CoD but im looking to run it okay in the long term.
Currently ive got AMD X2 4200+ 2.2Ghz, 2GB DDR2 on Vista. New PC build will get Win7 for it. I already have 900W PSU so that not an issue.

2500k all the way. Not only do they overclock like a SOB, but the onboard gpu helps alot. AMD is sure to copy the idea soon enough be sure... :rolleyes:

Thanks, how would an onboard GPU help? would the onboard GPU be usable? i.e. as good as a GTX 460? If not then, would it have similar problems that most Mobos have when you have an onboard sound and a sound card, you end up with conflicts unless you disable the onboard sound completeley.

Please explain how that works. :)