Alright, I finally have the funds lined up to replace my current rig with something less 2 years old. But I've got a few dilemmas lying in my path as far as what to go with....

First things first, I stick to Intel and Nvidia, AMD and ATI have burned me in the past and i refuse to go back. Now then....

First, the processor. Right now I'm looking at the E8400. However, I also do quite a bit of 3D work, and a quad-core would not go unnoticed when rendering. But the third hitch is that Intel is bringing out its brand spanking new death chips called Nehalem at the end of the year. So the question is: to get the 8400 now, to get a quad core to help with rendering (also could just upgrade to a quad later), or wait it out for the Nehalem?

Second, the mobo. Couple of issues with this. First, when the Nehalem comes out, it will likely not be compatible with boards out right now. This could put me at a bit of a disadvantage in the long run if I stick with a mobo that works with the 8400 (namely the EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1), but also the Core series has (hopefully) a bit of life left on it. Currently I'm thinking just go with whats out now and worry about the Nehalems later.

The next issue is RAM. To go DDR3 or stick with good ol' DDR2? DDR3 is still in its early stages with high latencies and not too much speed to offset that, but it is also likely the wave of the future. DDR2 is nice, cheap, and still boasts decent performance; but it is nearing the end of its lifecycle. However, if I go DDR3, just how much future-proofing does it do? Kinda depends on if the Core series lasts a while longer.

And the final problem: video card. Right now I'm thinking about getting a second 8800GT and putting them in SLI. However, there are those new shiny 200 series cards out. If I just stuck with one card, this would also open up the Intel chipsets for a north bridge, giving me more mobo options. But then again, SLI helps a great deal for rendering. So what to do, what to do.

Thoughts?