Nehalem's announced features, such as Integrated mem controller, do away with FSB and other basic LGA775 components. Upgrade compatibility wouldn't be feasible, and I've heard that Nehalem will be using Socket 6xx.
Due to Nehalem's slated launch in late '08/early '09, I'm thinking that AM2+ is the best option here, as it'll be compatible with Bulldozer through '09.
(AM3 is backwards compatible with AM2)

Bulldozer!!! YEAH!!!
 
We get to wait another year for another dissapointing product! SCORE!!!
 
Meh, get a Q6600 now. Nehalem will still be expensive for awhile, and the G0 q6600's perform and OC very well, which should keep you in the game for a few years.
 
Top tier performance obviously isnt an issue for you... or you wouldnt even CONSIDER amd, so dont be too concerned.

From what I remember the low-end Nehalem chips won't have an IMC, so those at least will probably work in socket 775 motherboards. Of course if only the low-end chips do you may be better off with a Core 2.

As best as I recall, the LGA 775 and the AMD socket 939 both released in similar timeframes, circa 2004.  Since 2006 / 7, AMD has released am2, am2+, and AM3.  And not all newer AMD processors will run with all of these variations.  Intel has released....   What?  An as yet to be produced MB with a new socket?
 
If my opty 175 died tomorrow, I'd be up sh*t creek even trying to find a replacement.  But if I had gone to LGA 775, well, no issues as of now, and I predict throughout at least 2010

Either get what'll last 2 or 3 years or get what's cheap.  Personally PCIe2.0 isn't worth it yet over PCIe1.0a.  Although 2.0 offers more performance 1.0a isn't even utilized all the way.  Quads aren't totally utilized nearly enough either, so that's something to consider.  Vista is getting better but still sucks.  DX10 hurts performance and doesn't offer that much better graphics yet.  Point being is that maybe in 2 or 3 years it'd be time to upgrade, but all the tech we have now either isn't used that much or isn't that good to begin with.
 
For the next 3 years only the Q6600, e8*00, and lower Q9*00 or so will be worth it and that's about it.  AMD doesn't have anything worth anything in the CPU or chipset market at all.  G92 GPU is the perfect sweet spot, I guess the same goes for 3870 since it has DX10.1 and costs a little bit less.  The 9600GT is actually a pretty good one too, but not in the long haul for games.  Raptor HDD's aren't worth it because more drives offer similar performance and higher capacities for less money.  DDR3 is still too expensive and it isn't really that much faster, but if you have a DDR3 board it might be worth the expense in the long run.  Still though who knows about 2 or 3 years from now.  DDR2 might not be that fast in 2 or 3 years, but it sure is alot cheaper and still performs quite well.  
 
Oh yeah Nvidia GPU's might be the way to go because there is pressure on Nvidia to open SLI to everyone and no it's not a rumor.  http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video [...] r_Bus.html
This might also mean that there's no such thing as SLI in the future period.
 
There are also talks about 6 core CPU's from Intel that consist of 3 dual cores in 1.  Probably not on the LGA 775 socket though.
 
Hmmm what else have I missed?

 
A social life???        
Good wrap up

 
Intel @ 65nm = ~3.4ghz average overclock
Intel @ 45nm = 4+ghz average overclock
 
AMD @ 65nm = ~2.9ghz (IF YOUR LUCKY), average 2.7's?
AMD @ 45nm = est 3.5ghz with luck....
 
clock for clock intel is stronger, so 775 reguardless of dead end-ness, still offers better performance (higher clocks and clock for clock) for the next year, and when it gets phazed out, just picture ~$250 quads @ ~3.2ghz (just like the pentium D 3.4ghz when it was being canned etc) - cheap cheap cheap, sockets always come to an end anyhow, look at AMD with there 754, 939, 940, 940(AM2) and now new boards to run the quads - yeah some future my a$$.
 

The OP just seems a little too worried about futureproofing to me.  Couldn't hurt for him to make his AMD bias a little less obvious to keep the intel flameboys at bay either, but oh well, to each his own.

Getting the "best bang for your buck" when it comes to hardware isn't about your possible upgrade paths, its how good the hardware you buy today stacks up to how the same stuff performs tomorrow.  If you don't understand how to rate hardware from that perspective you'll never make a smart choice as a consumer.

It's hard to believe that after seeing how wonderfully easy it is to run Phenoms in recent AM2 boards (not!).
 

^Exactly

 
More than a while, by the time it and a good mobo for it are at a nice price it will be like, ...summer 2009!  Theres a load of fuss about nehalem but you'll all be waiting at least another year for it.  

LGA775 has had a good run for about 4 years and thats not that bad. AM2 is older and yea while AM3 is supposed to be backwards capable, there is no gurantee and it will lose performance on AM2+ boards hence killing the use.
 
Of course once Nehalem come out it will be for the more high end users at first but will slowly become the Core2/CoreQ replacement. Iit will take about a year so say by 2009 and then tyhe shrink will come.
 
Either way LGA775 has proved to be very strong and has been a great socket.

 
Yes, I highly recommend buying a significantly slower computer now, so that in two years you can upgrade your computer to one that is as fast as one out now.
 
Note:  Might as well buy an AM2 and not an AM2+.  It's cheaper and they are "Compatible".  

Hi all,

When I first saw the Bulldozer avatar of Loser777 I thought it was an Intel Fanboi thing. Having not heard of the proposed (i.e. to be delivered in 2020) AMD Bulldozer platform I thought it was someone sweeping up the AMD rubbish dump of discarded Phenom cores...  

AMD can't even fight at low end with Intel releasing Core 2's like the E2160. So to talk about future AMD platforms is a bit premature since they may not even been around by then...

I have just built up a couple of socket 939 systems for folks so I do my bit to support AMD!! Give generously they are a Charity after all (being financially bailed out by the German government,etc.,etc.). After socket 939 AMD entered the wilderness... Possibly never to return...

Bob Wya

Meh, I think I might just hightail it with a high end 790FX motherboard and either get a cheap Phenom or keep my 4200+, which can OC to 3.0Ghz.
I envy how cheaply an E2180 can be overclocked to 3ghz- I went over to a friends house to do it for him recently (Yes I can overclock Intel processors too ), and it pulled 21 seconds SuperPi.
However, another friend's Opty 165 -overclocked similarly to the E2180, pulls a 29 second SuperPi.
While I don't think it does the K8 (2003) justice to be comparing it to a far newer architechture- Conroe (2006), I think this is pretty wide gap to be closed.
Then seeing this, even though the AM2 to AM2+ compatibility, I don't think the THG article did it justice, by not reviewing many of the boards- and not giving enough time for subsequent BIOS updates to be released.  
That being said, I think that Nehalem will offer a far more powerful core than Conroe/Yorkfield, as there are going to be many changes in the basic architecture. But, seeing as I'm going to be building as system this summer, I'm going with the AM2+ platform.  
As for the G92 Graphics cards being the best bang for the buck, I'd like to note that I think ATI will regain the performance crown by Summer this year, since the 4800 series has room to improve over the 3800 series, while the 9XXX series is just going to consist modified G92s.

I'm waiting for the 9450.... get it, overclock it.... and I'll be set for a long while on the mobo/cpu/ram area. Hopefully I'll be able to ride that for 2 years or so and just focus on graphics card upgrades.

You sound way too real.

hey mami i got my Q6600 at 3.2 GHz 1.32V B3 stepping  , i bought it last year and it still runs great and by the way so what if socket-T is a dead socket??? at least our processors beat the AMD ones    , dont you think mami?

Here's my problem. I don't have money to blow constantly on Computer parts.
I need a system that will work and be upgradeable.
That's especially important for me now because I have a system that's just new enough to give me a reason to not rebuild yet old enough to be irritating.
If I'm going to invest in parts that'll I'll end up completely unable to reuse then I'll be very pissed.
I don't want to make the mistake I made with my current setup.
I know people who