My dilemma is i can't decide what to go with either this system: or the one above! there looks to be about 200$ difference between them but the system below i can't use my 8800gt in sli where the other i can. Would it be worth buying a new graphics card for 200$ and go with the system below or use my 8800gt in sli in the i7 860 build this is what i'm debating........ Any help would be great! Thanks
If you choose to spend the extra cash on the 1156 platform then you can SLI or XFIRE but you are limited to x8/x8 on the PCI-E lanes... Not that you will bottleneck the cards but just FYI.....
if you aren't going to be doing any video encoding or other hardcore multi threaded tasks, you won't get all that much performance boost out of HT that the i7's have. If you overclock the i5 well, you will get great performance for games and such. Also, upgrading to a quad core, doing SLI, and overclocking is probably too much for a 600 Watt PSU. I'd think about upgrading to a 750 if you start noticing problems with your build once it's put together.
Could you edit that first post to answer ALL the questions and remove the example placeholders. Not sure what all you need and budget or monitor resolution. All very important info needed to help get you the most PC.