Cheers SS, it's just a pain taking a few days off work (not just to do this, but it was on my to-do list while I had the time) and be waiting on one component. I'm sure SiriusB has an E6400 lying around iirc from when he got a Quad - I might see if I can get him to loan it out.
Its an option.
I'm just wondering about the Q9450. Yeah, more efficient and slightly faster clock for clock (+ whatever SSE4 might bring) but I'm wondering if its going to be worth the extra cash. SSE4 (potentially) could shred through the video encoding and maybe folding work units in the future. But on the flip side, the Q6600 is going to be a big improvement over the current E6300 @ 2.5Ghz anyway.
Decisions decisions. I suppose I could get the Q6600 and when the E6300 becomes a bit long in the tooth drop the Quad in there and replace it with a Penryn. But by then Nehalem will be out (albeit with a new socket).
Bleh, I might just wait a couple of weeks and stick to the original plan.
(I changed my mind about three times writing this post)