Quote -
Depending on what you use the machine for, onboard video can be just fine. One of my rigs has onboard video, with just 8 MB of its own RAM, and no sound at all - perfect for a server. Don't need power-consuming fast 3D on that thingy, you just need your UI to work, and that's exactly what that small onboard thngy is doing.

Well, yeah, but that's not what I meant. I guess I should have specified, but I was referring to PCs people were using for heavy duty graphics needing alot of GPU power and dedicated VRAM.
I totally agree about the Q6600. I was by no means knocking it, and it is a great OC'er. But I think we'd agree that people who aren't building their own systems are probably not overclocking their CPU's. For that matter, I don't think most OEM mobo BIOS's even allow you to get near at it. And they also might not have room for a larger hsf to fit over the proc.
But OC'ing is a serious PITA too, even for people who know what they're doing. Shortly after I installed my Intel Q9550 (2.83 ghz, stock), I went through a few weeks (yes, weeks) of overclocking it. The whole routine of raising it a little, adjusting voltage, benchmarking and stress testing the hell out of it. Wash, rinse, repeat. I managed to get it up to 3.4 ghz eventually where it was mostly stable, although it was running quite hot,in spite of my four 120mm  and two 80mm case fans and my Zalman hsf. And it would still BSOD from time to time. Finally I said to myslef that a quad core at 2.83 ghz was plenty good enough. ;-)
And it is, too. It actually renders LightWave and modo scenes I have about 2.5 - 2.75 times faster than my dual core AMD machine which is 3.0 ghz (OC'd to 3.2, which is the best I could do for it). Both machines have 8 GB RAM.

Quote -
I'm not a PC gamer, that's what Playstations are for

Um, excuse me? No, I'd beg to differ. Can you use a Playstation to have multiple 3D apps open, including modding programs, to create mods for games? Nope, sure can't. ;-)
OTOH, alot of great games start out for console, and later get lame ports to PC, and there doesn't seem to be any reversing that trend. GTA IV is a good recent example of that. Well, I'm an avid PC gamer and am probably a little biased. ;-)

Far as vid cards go, my 8800 GTS does great for all current games and apps. The newer card designs will eventually be better, but not until apps really start taking advantage of what the GPU's can do. Currently, OpenGL is largely handled by your CPU.