While true again, there will always be new platforms after nehalem as well.  I see your point though, but things change all the time.  Platforms, sockets, ect.  Sandy Bridge confirms this as true.  So, should a person wait till Sandy Bridge to upgrade or should they go with what they can get and afford now?    Being on the bleeding edge of technology is not for everyone.  Nor can everyone afford to do so.  Sure, there is always something better around the corner as I said before and when that something comes out then the prices for the others come down. Even though nehalem is so great not everyone will be able to jump on the bandwagon, besides its a while before nehalem gets here anyways.  Skulltrail is NOW! 

For me, let me have a skulltrail now and I won't "need" to upgrade for a LONG while.  There are faster computers out there now than what I am running, A LOT faster and also will be, but to have a skulltrail now that would be AWESOME!

Besides reading up on Intel's plans they plan to change platforms every two years.  That's fine by me.  Doesn't mean I have to upgrade each and every platform.

Davo:

Kamrooz:

viperfour:

True, but you "ALWAYS" have something around the corner and this is especially true with computers.  So, you can wait for the next best thing....and wait....and wait....and wait.....or you can go with what you can get or afford at the time.  2 to 6 months later what you buy today even if it is THE THING to get it will be outdated.  Buy the newest platform and it will soon be outdated.  Always!  Welcome to the computer age! 

For me right now, this would be an ideal system build for the video editing and video effects that I do as I said in my post above.  And as well be a chance to get into computer-generated animation which I am interested in doing in conjunction with the video editing.

 

That may be true, but you can't relate it to nehalem. This is a entire platform change, grab a skulltrail board and you can't upgrade to anything. That isn't very convenient. The something around the corner mindset only relates to products of the same platform..But a complete platform change is something else. Especially considering the massive performance gap between core and Nehalem.  I stated it in another thread, if this was speaking in regards of having 65nm core and 45nm penryn around the corner...I would agree..But not when a new platform that will kill all prior chipsets and sockets....

And you'll be waiting a while for Nehalem and a free Skulltrail system pretty much rox, period.

EXACTLY!  Bring on the Skulltrail! 

 I would dearly love to have a Skulltrail, that much horsepower and overclocking ability is a dream come true.

If I had 8 cores at my disposal, there's no way I'd let them go to waste. A person should have a certain willingness/eagerness to try & learn new things inherently, but a machine like that would certainly be 1 heck of a motivator!!!

 Davo: I wasn't stating I'd be waiting for...lol...Anything is better than this 3.2 prescott! ROFL. But yea...if I had enough money to get a new rig, I'd probably grab a q6600 or q9450 rig right now, than when nehalem is released and the reviews are out on boards and overclocking potential, i'd pick up a new board and a nehalem cpu, and drop the prior quad into a spare rig for 24/7 folding goodness =D.

 But yea guys, the difference between skulltrail and nehalem?..Skulltrail will cost you a arm and a leg, where as nehalem will be a more affordable platform =P...but time is an issue...But once again though, there is always something good around the corner, but when it's a completely new socket that kills everything off, you just can't relate it to that argument. Anything you buy now, you can't upgrade, you buy nehalem, atleast you can upgrade to the 32nm shrink or other related cpu's for 2 years down the road =P.

What many gamer enthusiasts do not even foresee when they purchase this gaming motherboard is that they will forced to buy everything on the high end, this means high-end graphic cards, 2 Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9750 CPU's; the graphics will cost you about $400 a piece; The Intel D5400XS "Skull Trail" will cost you at about $650; 2 Western Digital Rapor X 159GB HDD's or 2 Seagate Barracuda 1TB which are way up there in price. Consider the other components, such as Case, Monitor,PSU, Optical Drives, workmanship, softwares also do not come for free, this gaming station will surely surpass the $10,000 dollar mark, making perhaps the most expensive gaming motherboard in history. This is for the serious enthusiast, gamer and gaming programmers who may have the cash.

The Intel Skull Trail will not be Compatible for lower models of CPU's such as the Core Duo's, Core 2 Duos; not even the Quad's will be compatible with the exception of  the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9750.

According to Toms Hardware, it will not support DDR 2 Memory, only DDR3.

It will work with Xeon and Extreme Processors only (QX9750).

Actually. . .

"Since the D5400XS motherboard is equipped with the 5400 workstation chipset, which supports neither DDR2 nor DDR3 memory,the Skulltrail system can only be equipped with FB-DIMM modules. Fully buffered modules were originally developed for use in workstation and server systems and were never meant to find their way in desktop computers.

At their core, FB-DIMMs are a refined type of DDR2 memory that uses a serial data connection to the memory controller instead of a parallel one. This makes it completely incompatible with standard DDR2 and DDR3 memory."

found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-skulltrail-part-1,1768-12.html