Computer advice needed

Mind if I just pop in and say that the E8500 is, by all accounts, easier to overclock than the Phenom? With the stock cooler, the E8500 can easily reach 4.2ghz, and maybe even as high as 4.5ghz if you've got one of the 'golden chips'.

In general, the Penryn line of Intel processors are designed with overclocking in mind - they are able to take a lot strain, and can overclock higher. To do the same with an AMD processor, you need some serious cooling (liquid nitrogen, f'rinstance) to get the same results. I don't know if the same is true with new Nehalem, but the top of the range Penryn processors can take a lot of juice.

In terms of overclocks, the E8500 (which was the daddy of the Wolfdale line before the E8600 came into being) has been up to 5.8ghz: http://www.ripping.org/benchmarks.ph...ores&cpuid=639.

I'm personally thinking of OCing an E5200, it seems pretty easy to do and is inexpensive.