Do you need a full tower???? That all depends on your preference.. Do you have room for one is the real question.. lol some of them are huge... My Thermaltake Armor+ is a gigantasarous.... If you wait you will have ample time to save for a nahalem... It's not like they are going to cost 500$! well i guess some are, but the one everyone is going to buy is going to cost 275$. Which is affordable if you don't think about the memory and mb you will need to buy in order for it to work, but thats besides the point...