Ok boys!
I havent upgraded for over 3 years, with my E6320 dual core 1.87 so its time to upgrade. Im indifferent to Intel vs AMD. Which ever gives the bang for the buck currently. First 2 were AMD, current Intel so im kool either way. I would prefer Intel probably because I prefer the nvidia gfx cards. I have a gt 210 superclock or something which is still ok for now, Ill see if I can sli it with another or something.
Basically need help on cpu and motherboard. I have a brand new burner and a WD 2tb 3 weeks ago.
I think its time for a new case too. been using this one over 5 years.

I would wait until April-May. The P67 Sandybridge mess should be over by then and the Z68 boards should be out also. The i7-2600K or 2500K are the way to go for CPU. The motherboards are still maturing right now (wait for B3 stepping for chipset). The ASUS P8P67 line looks promising. I like my Corsair Obsidian 800D. There are cheaper models similar to 800D.

Ehh Dont think I want to wait that long... How are the AMD options, or are the Intel still ahead at the moment?
Doesnt have to be super top of the line. Something mid to midupper.
I checked my newegg history, and my cpus are usually $150-200 when I bought them. So can you recommend anything not in this sandybridge boo boo category that would be around 150-250?
I usually upgrade the cpu/mobo every 2-3 years but its been 4 now. I can always reuse the memory most likely, hdd, etc.
Im trying to think, I have plenty of hdd space, just got a new dvd drive. friend just gave me a naga mouse cuz he just upgraded to a wireless.
I have a corsair 650 psu which should still be good. A geforce 260 superclock.
From what Im thinking a new case, mobo, cpu, memory, maybe heatsink of stock isnt that great. And depending, id like to try to SLI one day. I dont really game as often so I figure ill just find another 260 and sli them one day.

the sandybridge issue from what my intel rep told me is sata ports 3 and up are the problems, he them asked me if I pushed out many, I told him nope, but my system is fine but then again, I only have two drives in it, the os and media drive.I sent the board back and will have to wait for it to come back.

I never push out new technology I don't care who makes it.

MacGuyver is teh win. I did a quick bit of research and seems the 2500K would be right up my alley. Still always unsure on mobos but I see the issue the sandybridge chipsets had/have. Ive yet to have an asus mobo but Id like to give them a whirl.
Ill prolly just grab an antec case, my bro in law and friends have em and no problems so far.
Would you recommend an ssd for a boot drive?
I had one and left a bad taste in my mouth by randomly freezing up.

There are many new SSDs coming out in the next couple of months (controllers by Intel, Sandforce, Marvel, JMicron, Samsung, Toshiba). Most if not all will be SATA III (6Gb/s). I'm waiting until reviews are out for all of them. A preview of the new Sandforce line is out and it looks real good. Indilinx should have a new drive out sometime also (probably after all the others).

SSDs are still new and going through growing pains. I think these new drives are worth looking into. You'll at least be able to get the best drives today for less when the new ones are released soon.

Nod. I started feeling guilty seeing my cart up to 400 and still no ram, case or mobo.
I was thinking maybe a slightly cheaper processor, but jeez, everything I could find on newegg in the i5 category are all 180-220 or so, every single one.
I might as well just get a 2500k. Cuz it looks like to go down to a 130-170 budget you sacrifice a whole lot. Ill debate on ssd for now, not critical.
Thinking a regular antec 300 case or so, dont want to spend a whole lot there.
Have to wait for the p67 boards to pop back up, but hope theres one around 130-160.
Then that leaves memory.

I would wait for the Z68 chipset boards to come out. Like the P67 boards, you can overclock the K CPUs, but ALSO use the built-in GPU (if MB supports) and it will have SSD caching support.

argh, how long till those pop up?
Ungh, looks like I will continue to wait for a bit...
2nd quarter, in my experience usually ends up being mid to end of the quarter.

With the onboard vid, since ill be using stronger stuff like a geforce card anyway, that would function as a physx card then?
Or would going ati be a better route?
ive just always preferred the geforce cards but from what I can the majority of the motherboards are supporting ati, with only the higher end doing geforce. Is that because theyre aimed at budget people buying cheaper ati or that SLI is more of a hassle to implement on the board?

I read somewhere that AM3+ boards are not too far from being released?