ok tech kids, need some help

im building a new system for my bro, casual gamer, but i want him to have a new rig.

trying to decide between an am2 or core 2 duo setup.

am2 with sli (one 7900gt for now) and such is cheaper (3800 san diego, maybe X2 4200)

core 2 can only get a crossfire board (for 100 bucks more) and would need an x1900 (x1800 cant find a master board, and more expensive)

so. if i can get a cheap sli board for the 6300 id love to get it and overclock it. but am2 is a new chipset too, and could get a sli board much cheaper.

so my first question is which setup to follow, and the next question is can someone find a good cheap board for core 2 duo with SLI?

thanks

SLI is worthless unless you can buy 2 video cards within 60-90 days, have a hole in the pocket from money, and play at >1600x1200 or greater or max settings. SLI is horrible upgrade path, but with DX10 on the horizon its an especially horrible path. Crossfire is in the same boat, except it sucks to start with. Anything that requires a special card and external cables... NO just NO.

Personally, if you are a budget go AM2. If you want to go Core2 thats fine, but there really isn't a need to get above an E6300.

Simple AM2 Build:

Asus M2N-E- $95
AMD AM2 X2-3800+- $150 (Upgrade to a 65nm AMD CPU in December)
2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 CAS4- $250
250GB hard drive (7200.10 Seagate)- $75
7600GT video card- $150 (buy a DX10 card in December- if you have cash to burn- get a 7900GT now for $250)
Antec Sonta II case- $100
DVD burner- $30
Windows- $140ish (XP Pro)

Well for one crossfire for either am2 or lga-775 is a better idea than sli because of the price/performance ratio and the scalability of crossfire. Not to mention you can run crossfire on an sli board so you can have nForce4 too! Looking at the fact that you can get a 1900xtx for $369 on newegg and that two 7900gt's get about the same frame rate and less image quality I would say go with ATI all the way.

As far as am2 or lga-775, I'll be honest its a toss up. I've always prefered AMD and I'll probably stay that way. Both companies are very competitive now that AMD has lowered prices. One thing to keep in mind is that lga-775 mobo's are about $50+ more expensive for the same quality of board you can get for an am2.

here's a few suggestions:

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: M2N-SLI Deluxe
Item #: N82E16813131013
$142.99


SAPPHIRE 100150L Radeon X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: 100150L
Item #: N82E16814102037
$369.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2000MHz HT Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200CUBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA4200CUBOX
Item #: N82E16819103747
$180.00

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
Model #: TWIN2X2048-6400
Item #: N82E16820145590
$218.00