High Budget System VS. Low Budget System?

[tvh]

Lets say if I were to go SLI, theoretically of course, I have made two systems that I have felt comfortable and thought them to be solid. Now all things aside (such as MIR, Availability, etc...) I have selected two separate systems that both will suite my needs but there is a price difference. I want to know if the PERFORMANCE difference is worth the PRICE difference. Will there be that big of a difference? Could I compromise between the two? Please give me your reason and not just short answers, also I love if you all would critic the two and if you can think of changing things out I am very interested. Thank you in advance.

High Budget:$1,842 -$70 MIR = $1,772

SLI Video Card: 2x eVGA 8800GT 512MB (650MHz) http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130303
- $579.98
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700W http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817341002
- $139.99
CPU:C2D Q6600 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115017
- $279.99
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 4-4-4-12 DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231148
- $154.99
HDD http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136073
- $104.99
Monitor:Samsung 22" 226bw http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824001096
- $319.99
Heat Sink:Zaleman 9700 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835118019
- $59.99
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SLI 122-CK-NF68-T1 http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204241970&loc=101
- $202.99


Low Budget: $1,600 -$95 MIR = $1,505

SLI Video Card: 2x eVGA 8800GT 512MB (650MHz) http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130303
- $579.98
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 600W http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817341001
- $114.99
CPU:C2D E6750 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115029
- $194.99
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 4-4-4-12 DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820146565
- $89.99
HDD http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136074
- $79.99
Monitor:Samsung 22" 226bw http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824001096
- $319.99
Heat Sink:Zaleman 9700 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835118019
- $59.99
Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF63-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813188019
- $159.99


I already bought the case (Antec P182 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025) and the other odds and ends don't matter much in the build decision. Thank you for your thoughts

 

[Noya]

The only real difference in performance will be with multi-threaded apps, which will soon be the trend since duals start at $60 and quads at $260. New and upcoming games (Crysis, Alan Wake, etc) and current power user apps (Adobe type, ie editing, creating, encoding) are already multi-threaded.

I really don't see a reason to go dual-core unless you're OC an e21xx-series card to the limits for $83.

If you don't use power apps, I would save $60 on RAM and go for 4x1gb sticks of some rebated Ballistix or XMS DDR2-800. I've also read the 4gb will be plenty for 64-bit OS'es.

Why the Zalman? The current leaders in air cooling are the 120mm towers, which run about $35 most of the time.

You could go with a cheaper board for the quad build and save another $70:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188015

You could also drop to the 320gb Seagate for $80'ish and add another drive later (1 HD will really limit a quads multi-tasking if you do a lot of it).

You may want to wait until the GTS and GTX replacement is out. If they're substantially faster than the 8800GT, just buy one and have the SLi slot for later upgrading.

You may also want to wait for the Q6600 replacement.

 

[tvh]

Either way I plan to OC to atleast to 3GHz. Also I plan to run 64-bit OS, either XP PRO or Vista Ultimate 64bit. I do heavy gaming with plans of video editing in the future.

I have thought of doing the 4x1GB sticks of mem, so that is a possibility.

If not Zaleman, what are some good 120MM heatsink/fans?

I heard that the evga 680i boards other then the revision A1 will not OC quads at all.

I want to stay with the WD AAKS series due to the fact that they are high performance and rival close to the raptors.

I understand about the replacement GTS, but with eVGA step up program I should be able to upgrade my 8800GT's with little money.

I would wait on the new quads but I know the price wont be friendly.

Other then that, I take it that there is little performance gain between the two, please correct me if I'm wrong. Other thoughts or ideas are welcome still. Keep the posts comming.