Market for new CPU. Quad amd/intel? Wolfdale??

[needhelpnoobie]

Okay well I'm building a new PC over the next month. This will be for gaming and a lot of gaming at that. What CPU should I be looking at? I know the Wolfdales are dropping later this month, so I would consider those before I bought this generation of currenty core 2 duo's. However, are any of the quad cpu's worth purchasing? I see Phenoms at aorund $180, not sure what the intel quad's go for.

So basically what CPU should I consider? Also, does the new Wolfdale/E8xxx series processors work with the LGA775 boards? Or are they a new socket?

 

[bfellow]

Wolfdales are socket 775 and I believe most LGA775 motherboards would need a BIOS update if they don't already support it already.

 

[needhelpnoobie]

Hmmm okay. Well right now I'm thinking E8400.

Does anyone disagree or recommend another route?

Also, I'm uncertain about a motherboard and ram to go along with an E8400. Obviously I'm spending for a new CPU so utilizing other newer technologies would be on my plate also.

For example would DDR3 be something I should consider?

Right now I would be running a GX2 7950 EVGA card. But have plans to upgrade over the next few months to a newer SLI config, possibly some superclocked 8800GT's, or whatever the 98xx series of cards bring to the table.

 

[OlSkoolChopper]

If E8x00s come out on Jan. 20 with the Q9550/9450/9300 go with the latter series. 4 cores trump 2 cores evry day. If not, just take the plunge with the Wolfies. I will.

I wouldn't shell out the $ for DDR3 on a Wolfie unless you have some kiler apps that you need to run at warp speed. The best OC boards for Wolfies will be expensive. Maximus Formula and Extreme. Great boards but costly.

 

[epsilon84]

So basically what CPU should I consider? Also, does the new Wolfdale/E8xxx series processors work with the LGA775 boards? Or are they a new socket?

Wolfdale/Penryn are still S775. For gaming, an E8400 would be the sweet spot. The vast majority of current games barely take advantage of dual core, so a QC purely for gaming is a waste of money at this point, with the sole exception of Supreme Commander which does show a sizeable boost with QC.