CPU+MEMORY. I have both the Intel E6600 and the Corsair-6400 memory. I am very pleased with both. The fit each other well. Go for it. Just keep in mind the E6650 will be release sometime this quarter.
Graphics Card+Motherboard. Here is where you might run into a choice. The last time we spoke I suggested the i975 chipset, I still do, but if you do select this, both SLi and Crossfire are off the table. Since my last Post, the major problems with SLi and MS VISTA, (poor Nvidia drivers) are largely resolved,making SLi on Vista a much more attractive option. The question is which is more important to you, better overclocking rates or SLi? To me overclocking is much less important than SLi, I only notice a slight performance increase in overclocking, whereas SLi I get a great performance boost.
Furthermore the SLI motherboards are now cheap enough where the price difference is exactly the same. In France the MSI Powerup and the ASUS P5N32-E are
exactly the same price (€175).
I guess it boils down to this: If you want to get the best possible overclocking speed get the E6600, the MSI Powerup, and a water cooling system. Remember overclocking is not a sure thing, part of it is which chip you get. One E6600 may overclock much better than another. (It has to do the way the chip was cast at fabrication) so it is very much luck of the draw.
OR
Get a perfectly good i680 motherboard which will overclock well but not outstandingly, a good AIR HSF I have a the (Zalmans 9700 and the Big Typhoon on each of my systems, (these are probably the best HSF on the market) and use the €250 (+€100) toward a second 2nd Graphics card.
You don't even need to get the 2nd GPU right away, you can wait.
Or the safest bet is to use the savings to get your wife/girlfriend a present, as buying a new super-computer-geek PC usually angers
she-who-must-be-obeyed.
