Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
So foremost, I don't really know who to direct this reply to specifically because all of your replies have been helpful so far.
The second article from Xbitlabs that was posted (thanks Danny Bui) seemed to lean towards the i7 if within budget, and specifically mentioned 10-30% performance...
[H]ard,
It's been about 5 years since my last build; this is mostly because I've been tolerant of lackluster performance in modern games. I'm about at wit's end though and in need of a rebuild. This computer will only be used for gaming and absolutely nothing else - I have a HTPC and...
You should consider using Office 2008 or iWork. While you can use Office XP under Parallels, VMWare Fusion, Boot Camp, or Crossover, a native solution is just happier - unless you really need one particular feature of Office XP.
I have the new upgraded 2.26 Mini, upgraded to 4gb of Crucial RAM but decided to live the default internal and use an external connected over FW800. Part of my reasoning in not upgrading the drive for the time being was heat. Initially I wanted to put in a 500gb 7200rpm Seagate drive, but...
Video Monkey - Great convert anything video to other file formats. Built using Visual Hub's source code when Visual Hub went out of development.
Sidenote - creates a notes drawer on the side of your screen to store random thoughts.
I haven't personally used any AV software on my Macs, and nobody I know does. It seems like something that shouldn't go off the table as an option in the future, but even the winner of the last Pwn2Own (security) conference doesn't view it as necessary.
There's an interview with him here...
Requires email registration, but you receive a few shareware titles for free instantly, and a few more unnamed ones on Christmas morning.
http://givingtree.macheist.com/