Which set is more futureproof and cost effective?

[jasumi]

I am stuck between two builds.

Set 1
AMD Athlon 6000+
DFI Lanparty DK 790fx with 3 PCIE 2.0

In the future, I won't have to upgrade my motherboard. It will be able to support upcoming pci 2.0 GPUs and the new AM3 CPU with 45nm.

Set 2
INTEL wolfdale 3.0
ASUS P35

This has a much more powerful CPU, but I would need to update the motherboard for the new Nehalem socket and for upcoming 2.0 graphics cards.

In the long run, set 2 would cost me more money. But how long will it last before I need a new computer to play games on high with larger resolutions?

 

[SuicideSilence]

First of all, dont even worry about PCIE 2.0, by the time a graphics card uses up the bandwith of 1.1, your whole computer will be obselete anyways.
Check this out:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pci-express-2-0,1915.html
As for "future proofing" I generally say just get the best your money can by and dont worry too much about future proofing.

As for Nehalem, yes no matter what kind of motherboard you buy now, you will have to but a new one for Nehalem, because its a whole new socket.

My personal pick is Set 2, its faster, and if you overclock it, it will be much faster.

 

[sciggy]

Set two would be a better choice for a couple of different reasons.

1) Even though your mobo with a AM2+ would (probably) support new AM3 cpus, who knows what kind of performance deficit you'd be looking at. With the current phenoms you are hindered when running on a non-AM2+ board.

2) The E8400 has a lot of head room in terms of overclocking. When things don't run fast enough for you, just crank it up a bit.

3) Most games don't use multicore CPUs yet so you will probably be fine with a dual core for a while.

4) You would always be able to upgrade your video card later on with PCIE 2.0 board. So if later down the line you need a performance boost, could just upgrade the GPU.

 

[cisco]

I would get the Intel set up. You'll get more use out of it before you need to upgrade. Regardless of what you buy today, it will be obsolete in a couple of years, along with the motherboard and ram. From the benchmarks I've seen PCIE 2.0 doesn't do much if anyway.

 

[endyen]

The Intel sytem will do you for a couple of years. The AMD system might do you for 4, with a couple of new gfx cards.
Two years from now, dual core will be outdated, if you go Intel get at least a Q6600.

 

[spuddyt]

if you were just looking to hold out till nehalem, a really cheap e2160 + OCing will hold out for a while yet..... but i doubt you want that, so i would go with option 2