question about Conroe oc...

well i plan on buying a new rig in september (hopefully by then the G80 will be out...)... well i want a great system that will be future proof, so i want the best cpu i can get.. but my question is (bare with me, im new to computer world) will a E6600 oc'ed to 4GHz beat a X6800 oc'ed at 3.46 ghz??

*is it possible to oc ram and a mobo??? (i heard people talking about that but im not sure) and if so how can u?

*any news on when the G80 will be out or ATI counterpart?

* and last question, is it really hard to set up a water cooled system for a begginer like myself? or should i just go with a air cooled system and pick up a really good fan or something.. if i were to go with either water or air which would i choose that offers really great cooling capacity (not over $200, actually i wouldnt like to spend more than 150 but ill see what everyone says)

This is purely speculative, but last estimates I read seemed to put both the G80 & R600 out in the 4Q of this year. According to the Inquirer (and I'm sure if they say it, it must be true ) nVidia missed a tape out that would have put them on track for this September. ATI was on pace for October. I'm sure both parties are motivated to make it by the Xmas shopping season though I wouldn't be surprised to see either or both miss that goal.

It's not always 100% current, but I like to follow http://www.mikeshardware.co.uk to check out product roadmaps, CPU pricing, etc.

I would go with air first and decide if you need water later. If I was really going for it, I'd get a Vapochill.

If your gonna spend under 200 dollars on a watercooled solution, just go air cooling cuz the performance gain will be marginal at best...

If your willing to spend a bit over 200, then you can get huge performance gain. The Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra is probably one of the best watercooling kits out there, and it's not hard at all to set up. Or you can buy all your parts seperately. Danger Den also offers some great waterblocks and radiators.

well if not 4 ghz then is 3.5 a reasonable number? as long as i get over 3 then ill be fine with that...

You don't need to.
For RAM all you have to do is pick the right one from the start.

You'll be hard pressed to find anything cheaper than G.SKILL 2x1GB DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (ignore that idiotic review about how it doesn't work with 965P-DS3, or an Abit AB9, the guy is retard)

Actually, you should NOT ignore that short, but correct review about how it doesn't work with the 965-DS3.

The ZX sticks are CONFIRMED by G. SKill not to work on a DS3. I bought these and had to RMA them. If you need proof, go to the Xtremesystems forums, where the Official G. Skill support forum is.