threedhero
If it were my choice I'd go with a SS till you get to college then used DICE or even better Ln2! $900 vs the amount of points you can get with the current hardware is also a factor. Let's say you'd rather go for HW ranking atm hardware points cut off at 300 boints. To get a higher ranking in the HW community you'll need the newest hardware, which isn't cheap.
However if you want hardware points and aren't worried about ranking or global points, than I'd say cascade will be better.
Even with an i7 920 D0 with 1-2 DICE sessions should get you around 100 boints or more easy.
Since your doing most of you benching on the weekends, let's say you buy 20-30lbs of DICE that should be enough for two days worth of benching. If you've done prep benching before the weekend, results should be good.
If you go the cascade route it's $900 off the bat, and then you go to college and may be able to get Ln2 pretty cheap it's kind of a loss cause. I'd rather be @ -192c then -80c 
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Also I've found volt modding is a cheaper way to get more points, if you can get a V-modded card on a waterblock you'll be in great shape.
Thanks for all the input, very good stuff.
Ok, actually after figuring out our electric bill, a cascade would barely change the bill at all if i only benched weekends. So the energy bill factor is null. Also, when i go to college, i don't have to pay for dorm energy bills anyways.
Looking at straight boints, i don't care nearly as much about world ranking. I don't really have enough modern hardware to make a push in the individual league. I have lots of s775 stuff to bench, and currently am benching.
So i really am looking more for hardware points than global. Anyways, i like benching for the fun of achieving stuff and beating others. The boints are just an easy way to rank that.
As for college, that is a tricky one. I have thought about that alot (ln2). What i am wondering is if i can have easy and cheap access to ln2 at college. If i can, an SS would probably be better (or even just stick with dice even though getting it is a pita). But, if ln2 is not easily accessible and/or not cheap, then a cascade seems to be a much better option.
Also, i have a soldering kit and have tried 1 vmod on an old card, but it doesn't seem to work. But i will probably redo it. So ya, vmodding is great for more boints too.
