I have a question or two and need some opinions.

First off, I'm planning on upgrading my chipset. I have a Asus A8N SLi Deluxe with a Athlon 64 3200+ --- what do you suggest I upgrade to? I'm looking for cheaper, but effiecent. I was thinking maybe the 4800 x2 chip, but I'm not sure.

Now I have an SLi mobo, but I can't afford butt. My card is a Geforce 6600, I'm thinking if I upgrade the card it could make a world of difference. Should I go the extra mile and get SLi? Or would waiting be the best option?

Also, I'm not a big fan of over-clocking. I know thats what Athlons are made for, but I never had the money to get cooling, so I just stayed away from OC'n. But if I did want to get some cooling, whats a good case or coolin setup for me to get?

I'm planning for all of this stuff to be able to handle next-gen games like UT 2007 and beyond. So it would be nice to get an opinion on whats the best route for me to take. My mobo can handle the better chipsets, but I'm not sure where my mobo will be in 6 months. I'm trying to play the field here and get something that will last atleast 1 1/2 - 2 years. Then I'll do a major overhaul, but till then I need something to tide me over.

Any suggestion is welcome except destroying, burning, and/or humping my computer.

Spite

okay doesn't look like you are getting help here... maybe you aren't hitting the Easy button hard enough... hehe..


About the case... it really depends on what you are looking for.. If Performance is your main conscern.. you then still have options.. Full tower.. or mid size..

Full towers are good especially if you are running multiple drives in Raid, or SLI with liquid cooling.. or just to have plently of space.

Mid towers are tricky in that you really will have to spend some money to get yourself a good one that isn't too flimsy and won't fall apart if you put in two HDD's cause of the weight.. hehe..

Either way.. Pun1shment 3.0 which is Pun's new rig is enclosed inside of Thermaltake's Full Armor Tower.. this tower is sick with 14 drive bays for multiple Hdd's, has uber fan cooling, and plenty of space for all your perif's.. If you are gonna upgrade, and don't care how much room your case takes up.. this would be one avenue to follow.. Plenty of airflow, it comes with some nice features, I believe you can find these for about $150 Now they also have a full tower that comes with a CPU liquid cooling kit for about$170 Not bad in my opinion.. if you are looking for a bit of extra cooling and would like to possibly move to OC some parts..

If you decide on a mid tower... I recomend the Armor Junior.. this Full towers little bro... Currently Frag///aster 3.0 is living inside one of these and let me tell you it is freaking sweet.. it comes with a few drives smaller than the full tower, but its not skimpy on space. There is plenty of space for RAID configs. as well as your SLI cards wnd Xfi soundcard... Also... I"m running a Thermaltake Liquid cooling kit on my CPU in the MID SIZE CASE.. so that should tell you about the room this little moster posseses.. Now I picked up mine from $150 but I believe you can find em online fior $130. Both cases got a kick ass rating from Maximum PC... and Considering the father of all overclockers ahs one.. I recomend.

Cpu.. Wondering if you can support any of the FX line.. if so I would go for a FX-55 at least.. the 4800 is sick fast too.. either one would be good and shuold get you through next year with 2K7 coming out.. curently I am running a waterchilled 3200 + like the one you have. and I am sick fast on current games... so I will be upgrading too..

On another note... Recently I have been thinking of going against the grain.. I knowAMD is the gaming proc.. but.. the new Intel Xtreme edition chips. Spank the highes end AMD chips soo bad.. that future chips are gonna feel it in every bench mark... so if you are going for new I recomend that... if upgrade teh old... go with the 4800...

Also don't forget about your memory...
Make sure you have some sick fast corsair or balistic ram to go with your games... 1 gig used to be the norm.. but 2 gig is starting to be the norm and what you will need to handle all your games... any more is really a waste of money you wont see too much perf, gain out of it..

Vid cards... well you have choices here.. you could go grab yourself a 7950 dual sick nasty single card to slam in your rig. or you could go even one step faster if you have the cash and go for a pair of 7900 GTX OC'd editions, from EVGA, that will absolutely slam everything.. you could always go with one card too.. LOL I just like teh sound of two running in SLI. Those cards are in Pun1shment 3.0 and they slam..

Raptor drives... A must have...

DVD burner, if you don't all ready have one..

depending on what you have allready... gaming mice and keyboard.. I"M sure I could list a crapload for you to try...

other than that,... start there.. those are your big money upgrades.. the rest is little penuts.

Frag.