Intel fore 2 Quad Q6600 (if i OC this at all, will it'll instantly void the warranty?)

EVGA 680i SLI Motherboard

OCZ 2x2GB DDR2 pc-6400 SLI ram

Cooler Master RC-690 Case

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB HD

PC Power & Cooling 750w

2x MSI 8800gts 512

Windows Vista 64-bit SP1

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler (this thing is huge, but performs well. anyone have any suggestions for a smaller/equally good cooler?)

3x Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fan (i might get a 4th, so put right ontop of the CPU cooler, if i get a smaller cooler. till then a 4th wont fit)

1) could anyone recommend maybe a cpu cooler that works as good as the Xigmatek rifle, but isnt as huge?

2) last question i really have is if the 680i can OC as well at the 780i

again i appreciate any reviews and information provided.

You void the warranty by overclocking, but nobody can tell.

Top 5 heatsinks:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

You can go with Crossfire, X38 or X48 chipsets, if you are not happy with SLI boards. You will have to change your video cards to ATI, although.

never liked ATI cards... ive thought about it, but dont like it.

what im really wonderin if is its a bad thing to get a 680i board, and just build a new computer in 3-4 years, or to get a 780i board, and assuming it works upgrade specific parts also in 3-4 years.

edit** i just made up my mind... all im really taking about is throwing away $180 in a few years to get a better board... maybe if i would use the 780i to its full right now, it would be worth getting, but i can get the exact same performance/overclocking capability out of the 680i

about the overclocking... lets say i OC it stable to 3.0 or 3.6 or w/e and one day it dies on me... will i be able to get a replacement?

How big is your monitor? For the games you want to play, you would probably get perfectly acceptable performance with a single high end video card.
You also would not need such a high-wattage PSU (although that one is a great one). You could drop back to 500W-600W.

im buying that PSU cause its the best quallity for the price. not to mention im gonna run atleast 6 maybe 7 120mm case fans, 8 if u count the processor heatsink. all in all, for $120 its a great PSU

my monitor is a 22" and i play at 1650x1050

vs a single card, i'll get about a 20-25% performance increase.

its no better than a 9800gx2 minus the issues and costs $100 less

change the hard drive from 7200.10 to 7200.11 with 32mb cache, get the either 250gb or 500gb. it's not that more expensive than what you want to buy

The Q6600 will hit 3.6ghz nicely with 1-120mm front fan and 1-120mm rear fan and a good CPU HSF like XIGMATEK HDT-S1283.

What do you think the Q6600 is capable of on air?

With 8 fans in your case you will have the most expensive vacuum cleaner on the block.

Stick to your 750W PSU this is the minimum required with your components
Sure 780i mobos are better than 680i
Though nForce chipset mobos have lot of problems
I would stay away from them and go for X48 chipset mobo even I'll loose SLI
And in such a case I'll get the best single card from nVidia if I prefer more than ATI

maybe im trying to overcompensate... lol who knows

the cooler the better tho right?

not like ill throw the fans away, ill less w/ it here and there

1 last question tho... im gonna be ordering very soon and im just wonderin somethin

im not sure if ill ever use a 500gb HD... the 250GB does have a 16bit cache but whats the difference really?

according to the HD charts the the 7200.11 250gb vs the 7200.11 500gb the difference is 2.5 mb/s transfer rate

My opinion the ES.2 250gb 32mb cache second only to the 150 Raptor for axcess times but the ES.2 beats it every where else. (read & write)

eh too late, already ordered.

little problems like that i guess are just luck of the draw. we'll see how it turns out when i put it together.

also i might not overclock untill im sure the processor is A) running fine w/ no problems or B) the warrenty runs out and i dont care what happens to it anymore....

mostly im just afraid ill **** somethin up