GPU Advice for Gaming-heavy Rig

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Deal. ~;)
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Or get W7 now. I have to say, I haven't encountered any of the problems that people talk about on my Vista rig, and I'm definately something of a power user. I have actually noticed a huge boost in speed when switching dfrom WinXP, especially in Games. And DX10 really does make a MASSIVE difference.

Well, I picked my system up yesterday with the help of a colleague and his car, installed my Vista Business 64bit and then started upgrading, after a long wait and fixing some minor problems I managed to install Empire which was considerably faster than on my laptop, the installation I mean. :laugh4:
Then put everything on ultra and had a land battle with two half stacks on some jungle map and I must say. It's absofreakinglutelytastic-looking! And smooooooth...
The sea battle on the hazy 4 player map was a bit less smooth but the map is almost unplayable on the notebook or even lower end systems due to all the haze.
Overall I'm very happy for now. :2thumbsup:

The only small problem is that the GPU cooler(I think) feeps a bit in idle but not under load, doesn't bother me too much for now as I didn't intend to use the 200W+ system for surfing since I still have the notebook for that.

Well, anything you buy is going to be outdated soon; it's just a matter of time. I remember when my dad bought his first computer he spent loads and loads of money on it (a whopping 64 megs of ram if I remember right lol.) That being said, if you buy something more pedestrian, it won't sting as much when you have to replace your system as you inevitably will in a couple years.

And that, my friend, is why people who have been in the computer world for a while shoot for the optimum point on the price/performance curve. It makes no sense to buy top-shelf parts for the reasons you cite. Likewise, it's impossible to game on truly low-end hardware. So you read, and you look, and you find the parts that will give you just the right bang for your buck.

I don't know of anything you can purchase that devalues as quickly as a computer, except perhaps a lap dance.

yup, always buy behind the curve, you get 75% of the performance for 50% of the price.