Just thought I'd point this out for those in the market... Micro Center stores are selling the Intel Quad Core Q6600 retail for $199 out the door, which equates to a ~$50 discount compared to anywhere online. Believe discount price ends 03/02, but don't quote me. They stock the sought after SLACR G0 stepping processor. I recently picked one up for my new trading system build, which I originally was going to put off for a while longer. Prime95 stable at 3.4ghz for 24hrs with standard Zalman 9700 air cooling on x38 chipset. O/C performance on par with the lower end Core 2 Extreme Yorkfield chips which run about $1k. System will devote 2 cores to charting/backtest/trade software, and 2 to windows/internet/news etc. Was leaning towards the Wolfdale E8400 but could not pass this offer up given the capability of the G0 step, price, and extra two cores in preparation for the future (which will revolve around quad core). A software engineer friend working for Cicso has this core in his workstation at home, and states nothing but praise. Nearly 2x faster compile/render times compared to his older E6750. Not a chip for everyones need as it is likely overkill for most trade system builds, but I know some of you could use the horsepower. And to boot it's $200...chump change.
Intel discount schedule http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-01-17/intel-desktop-price.gif <img src="http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-01-17/intel-desktop-price.gif">
I believe he has a Gigabyte P35 board with dual PCIe x16 slots. I'm running Asus Maximus Formula x38 running dual eVGA 8600 GT's. I'd stick with Gigabyte or Asus in the x38. In fact I feel Gigabyte has surpassed the once reliable work horse of the motherboard world (Asus). Asus has lost stature with a recent plague of issues in the P5 series. Don't discount the slightly older veteran P35 series altogether...many revisions and bios updates have been released, so it is a stable breed.
NewEgg had the E8400 for only $225 last month. Now at $239. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037