Go back up and Read my post again Alan.. I edited itAs for expense.. if you put out for DDR3 there is NO HEAVY LEARNING CURVE or time investment... its practically plug-nGO if you buy the right parts.. key is knowing what to buyYou will find plenty around here I posted around that.DDR2 is the platform you must pull your hair out on to tweak-up and the fact is you only get limited results that will not match DDR3 without serous overclocking later

Sir Tim Berners Lee has recently been expounding on the peculiar difficulties the internet poses when it comes to separating fact from fancy. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7613201.stmIt is partly a question of viewpoint. If I may be forgiven the condescension, I would like to venture a viewpoint of my own: Nick_N's posts seem to be technically perfect, so far as an amateur can judge them, although their meaning is sometimes a little opaque for non-technical readers like me. On the other hand, not all of Sam's posts are completely wrong: but they are not all perfectly complete and they sometimes make assumptions about the reader's objectives (eg, securing value for money) which may be unfounded and which can lead to over-simplifications, possibly misleading ones. Thus in our own little forum, we have a good example of what Tim Berners Lee is worried about.What is the solution? In our case, I am absolutely sure that nobody means anyone any harm by giving advice on this forum. So hopefully a deep breath and a cup of tea will be enough. Then - dare I condescend yet further? - closer attention to how clearly we express ourselves before hitting the "send" button? And at the risk of turning from the condescending to the outright patronizing, I will pose two more questions: forums like this are not JUST idle chatter. For one thing, they leave a trace: is it one we would wish to leave to posterity? For another, today's posts might help tomorrow's readers: so have we included everything we need, and said it clearly enough, to make our posts as helpful as we would wish when we read them again next year?Tim

Thanks. Plug-nGO is definitely appealing. I'll research your posts.Alan

Well spoken.Alan

TimIf Sam had the guts or the ability to say"In my opinion""I'm not sure but I think"

>Thanks. Plug-nGO is definitely appealing. I'll research>your posts.>>>AlanAlanLook up Noel on this forumHe has been through the hair pulling DDR2 tweaking to the practically plug-nGo DDR3 experience and can give you some directionIf you are going to buy now and not wait for Nehalem then at least put yourself in 1 year old tech to get you through till the next round of platform upgrades..Since Nellie uses DDR3 you can at least transfer that to the next platform to get you started and not have to shell out part of the expensegood luck

>>I'm outta here now>>>I should have done it last week>Oh no, Nick!We need true experts around. Sam is sure neutralized by now.Please stay and continue advicing me and other hardware noobs. I would really appreciate your advice when the first X58 mobos and Bloomfield CPUs will hit the market.Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32

>>>>I'm outta here now>>>>>>I should have done it last week>>>>Oh no, Nick!>>We need true experts around. Sam is sure neutralized by now.>Please stay and continue advicing me and other hardware noobs.>I would really appreciate your advice when the first X58 mobos>and Bloomfield CPUs will hit the market.You know where to find me if you need adviceand the Nellie numbers are there, even in alpha they are showing some very impressive results where it counts.

>>You know where to find me if you need advice>>>and the Nellie numbers are there, even in alpha they are>showing some very impressive results where it counts. >Nick,Yes, I know where to find you :-)Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32

Thanks, will check on/with Noel as soon as I shift from dithering to my own version of hair-pulling.By the time I decide on a direction, Nellie may be here. Even if not, imminent Nellie gives DDR3 an edge. I do want to build in some degree of future-proofing - if I shift to Nellie a year out, I'd rather carry over as much hardware as possible.Thanks again.Alan

>Thanks, will check on/with Noel as soon as I shift from>dithering to my own version of hair-pulling.>>By the time I decide on a direction, Nellie may be here. Even>if not, imminent Nellie gives DDR3 an edge. >>I do want to build in some degree of future-proofing - if I>shift to Nellie a year out, I'd rather carry over as much>hardware as possible.>>Thanks again.>>>AlanYou are welcome Alan

Oh well, thanks for all your help here: I've certainly discovered a lot from your various posts. And by chance I think I've tracked you down elsewhere - so unless I've been black-balled, see you anon ...Tim

I say lol to this thread.

Remember though, the Nehalem will need a new mobo. The only thing that will carry over from any 'today' system is the DDR3 ram. Since DDR2 will provide (arguably) similar performance now, and DDR3 will be a Lot cheaper later, the argument for a zero-additional-expense DDR2 based system upgrade can at least advance . . . even into the storm!!

>Remember though, the Nehalem will need a new mobo. The only>thing that will carry over from any 'today' system is the DDR3>ram.That was some odd statement! A lot of your system stuff might be reused on the X58 mobo: Case, disks, PSU and graphic card, right? The only things you definitely can't carry over is your old mobo and cpu.Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32