New Rig's dilemma

[deviate5]

Hi guys, first of all this a gr8 site for every kind of knowledge one would want about any component of a PC and then its issues and solutions. I find it better than many other forums, so keep it up!

Im looking to build a mid-end gaming PC, im on a semi-tight budget, but the most important thing for me is to plan myself well for possible future upgrades while also getting performance components now which should last atleast another 16months or so from today.

I have some points on which i keep getting confused and hence adjusting my budget every now and then.

1.Mobo: GA-P31-DS3L VS GA-P35-DS3L. im getting P31 for $97 and P35 for $142,
so i want to know whether the difference b/w them is worth $45?? im not an extreme overclocker and i dont plan to overclock anything soon, but maybe if i get a 2.4GHZ CPU, i might overclock it upto 2.8GHz, but thats it. I dont see a huge difference b/w these two mobo's apart from 4vs8GB RAM capacity and 1333vs1066..which might not be significant for 2-3yrs.

2.CPU: Im buying good mobo so i can upgrade to Quad's after sometime and possible overclock them mildly. Hence im reluctant to spend $230 on a E6850 or anything above at this time.
Will it be a good decision if i get E4600 and then upgrade to quad after 2yrs?? Or should i get a E6750 or E6850 or above and dont upgrade to quad's before 3.5yrs??

(Note i wont OC the crap out of E4600, but i might take to 2.7-2.8Ghz if i felt like doing so after 4-6 months.
(So answer can be given in the light of this above fact, becoz if its worth getting E6850 CPU now, then i might just get a less powerfull Mobo like GA-G31M-S2L or something in that range, and spend rest $$ on a better VGA)


3.VGA: The 8800's are too expensive for me atm, So im trying find something like 2600XT to hold me next 3 months, but all i can find is 2600PRO for $98, 7900GT for $200 (dont know why), 8600GT 512mb GDDR2 version for $145. I can get all 7xxx series but they are just to weak for even decent gaming.
i want to upgrade to 8800xx or Radeon 3870 after 2-3 months

--SO is it worth getting a 8600GT and then upgrade to 8800xx after 2 months or so??
--2600PRO for now?? holding for 8800's??
--Or .. anything from 7xxx under 7900GT?? (ex. 7600GS)??

What will be the best choice?

I really appreciate any help regarding these matters.Hoping for solutions Thanx in advance!

 

[silent-circuit]

...are you in the US? Cause those prices seem a little off in places.

 

[deviate5]

no im not in USA, but in middle-east, and obviously most components take some time to reach here and therefore higher prices than what currently are in US.

 

[thrawn86]

you're willing to spend 150$ on a gpu so that you can trash it and buy something better in 3 months?

the dual core will be fine. remember its all gpu limited at this point anyway.

 

[deviate5]

Well im hoping to find a 2600XT or 1950XT to allow me to get good fps in cod4 and alike games. 2600pro is really a super bad and wont even sell nicely afterwards imo. therefore i can only see 8600GT in front of my eyes atm.

But what to chose b/w P31 and P35?

 

[silent-circuit]

P31, P35, it's pretty minor. If you need to save money the P31 will be fine.

The 8600GT is... horrid.

 

[Dangman]

Are there any other cards available to you?

The 8600GT is ok as long as you don't expect to play at high settings or high resolutions

 

[deviate5]

I've read some issues about P31's memory slots problem and some other confusion about 1333CPUs and overclocking, but i hope that these wont restrict me too much in the future.

No i just got 7xx series, 8xx series and Radeon cards (some very very low-ends), and 2600PRO,3850,3870, but i'll prefer a 8800GTS over these 3870's anyday, ofcourse only if i could afford any of these.
2 versions of 8600 only: 8600GT512mbGDDR2 and 8600GT-1GB-GDDR2....not sure about the price of the 1GB one ,, but is round about $175-$190.