Wondering if an upgrade is worth it...

[DaddyRabbit]

OK, sorry for this being kinda' long,,,

Xmas is coming and I was thinking of setting up a Windows Home Server box.

I have my main rig, in my sig, and my son is using my old Shuttle SN95 with an overclocked A64, I also have a 2.8g P4 SB61 Shuttle that is currently unused (was going to set it up for SUSE). I was thinking of building myself a new rig, giving him my old rig, and using the SN95 Shuttle for WHS (OEM can be had at the Egg). I would need to up the RAM in the Shuttle to 2g, buy an E-SATA PCI Card and an external enclosure and two drives but that's minimal. I'd also need to get an 8600 (or an X1950 pro) for the boy as I would reuse my 8800GTS in the new box. On to the real questions;

I've done some searching here and other places and read a few reviews and am not sure as to going with P35 or X38. I won't be using DDR3 (Santa's got a mortgage ), I have no need for Crossfire (or SLI) which would point to a P35 board. I can see, however, maybe a year or so down the road buying an upgraded GPU (PCI-E 2.0) which would park me in the X38 lot...

So:

1) If I went with an X38 (Say the Asus Maximus) and an E6750 or a Q6600 would I see any real gains over my current E6600 and XBX2?

2) Would it make sense to wait a year, use the older SB61 Shuttle for WHS and use the money on something more practical?

I am leaning toward option 2 for practicalitys sake but "Gear Aquisition Syndrome" is a harsh mistress...

EDIT - I guess option 3 would be to sell all my gear and move the family up into the mountains and await the end of the world Naaaahhhh!

Discuss?

[Zertz]

Depends what you use the computer for, but you probably won't notice any difference in performance going from E to Q6600. The motherboard has very little to do with performance, but if money isn't a problem then go for the Maximus, otherwise there are alot of very nice P35 boards available.

Then of course, theres quite a bit of new stuff releasing within a month from now...

[DaddyRabbit]

Depends what you use the computer for, but you probably won't notice any difference in performance going from E to Q6600. The motherboard has very little to do with performance, but if money isn't a problem then go for the Maximus, otherwise there are alot of very nice P35 boards available.

I use it mainly for stuff that I could still be doing on the P4 SB61 but I do do some gaming (COD2, HL2, Guildwars, and more recently Hellgate London beta, COD4 Demo and will be going with Crysis and getting COD4 when they release).

I realize the mobo isn't the biggest factor in performance and going from a E6600 to a Q6600 won't gain me much if anything, but I probably should have clarified the question; Will I see a difference in an E6750 vs. E6600 (which means a new mobo since the XBX2 doesn't support E6750).

Then of course, theres quite a bit of new stuff releasing within a month from now...

Yeah I guess I'm jumping the gun a bit, there is always something new in the pipe (X48 already when X38 isn't even really out in full yet?). Dang that G.A.S.

[stev]

EDIT - I guess option 3 would be to sell all my gear and move the family up into the mountains and await the end of the world Naaaahhhh!

Discuss?

Oh great. The end of the world is drawing near, the Anti-Christ will embedded a mark in my brain and I'm doomed. Thanks for the ever so good reminder.

On the other note, option number 2 looks great, that is if we still have enoguh time before the apocalypse approches.

[Zertz]

Will I see a difference in an E6750 vs. E6600 (which means a new mobo since the XBX2 doesn't support E6750).

No.

Yeah I guess I'm jumping the gun a bit, there is always something new in the pipe (X48 already when X38 isn't even really out in full yet?). Dang that G.A.S.

I think waiting for AMD to release their new stuff is worth it. Also, we're only a month away form being flooded by benchmarks. G92, RV670, Penryn, Phenom, 790 chipset...