Couple Questions

I am looking to order a new system from Digital Storm in the next few days, but before doing so, I had a few questions.

I am an avid gamer and enjoy the whole gamut of games, ranging from RTS's to FPS's to MMO's, etc.  I am looking to buy a system that not only offers screaming performance, but I also want to future proof the system
as much as possible for future upgrades and whatnot.

My budget is around $2900 or so, maybe a bit more or a bit less.

So here are my questions:

1) If I want to future proof any potential system as much as possible, in terms of being capable of handing the newer quad cores when they are release a bit later this year, then what Motherboard should I be looking at?  I had heard that only certain ones will support the newer dual and quad cores coming out.

2) I was leaning toward a 750W power supply or better, since I intend to configure an SLI system or crossfire system and like I said, I definitely want to be future proofed.  Any reason I would need more power than this?

3) I currently have a 24 inch LCD and want the best performance possible for a decent price, so I was leaning toward two 8800 GT 512's in SLI or two Radeon HD 3870's in crossfire.  I guess which would depend on the motherboard, so I guess this question and number one are linked.  Which would offer the best performance/price ration, keeping in mind stability as well?

4) I heard that the new dual cores should be out soon and offer up some nifty performance, I was wondering if I should wait and get one of them as opposed to a current, older quad core for now, as I will use my system primarily for gaming and have heard that most game applications do not make full use of quad cores.

Thank you




Edited by Anon - 20 Jan 2008 at 9:39am

Thanks for the information skyR.

As for the 8800 GT...it looks like several people in these forums have been experiencing issues with them and Alex has made several posts about it being hard to find "good" ones?  Should this affect my decision to include them in a potential build?

Also, in terms of the new duo cores, when would they become available via Digital Storm?  Any idea?

Thanks for the feedback, Tyler.

I have been doing some research on both the 3870's and the 8800gt's and they both seem to have some degree of issues.  For example, many cases on these forums point to bad batches of 8800gt's, while on Toms Hardware many posters talk of fan issues with the 3870's.  I would hate to have to bump up to 8800GTS's just to avoid these issues :(

Couple more questions...

Would the Maximus Formula also support the newer duos and quads when they arrive?

Is 750W fine or is it overkill on the type of system I am looking at (ie. SLI or Crossfire, low end quad OC'd or new core duo OC'd, couple of hard drives, couple of opticals, etc.)?

Also, leaning toward the extreme case at the moment, which should be fine for cooling an overclocked system as outlined above?

Thanks again.