Decisions decisions ...

[InfernalMachine]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
All of the above; it's a general purpose machine.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Bang for the buck within an unlimited budget but just because I can spend it doesn't mean I want to.

3) Where do you live?
Austin TX - No microcenter

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I can go two routes:

Route A: CPU, MOBO

Route B: Full rebuild

Case: I'm torn between the Silverstone RV02 and FT02 but I'm more concerned about the internals at this point.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Corsair 1000W PSU

Dual ATI 512MB 4870s - they're like JET ENGINES and run like I feed them coal.
Corsair XMS DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50

6) Will you be overclocking?
I'll be dabbling to see what I can get.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" 1920x1080 (res I use) but would like to expand to 2-3 monitors.


8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon!

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
No need for Raid (have a NAS) or Firewire and don't NEED to have dual card solution; i'm totally fine with a single card solution.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Win7U64

But first some history:

I was running and Intel Q4590, Intel skull trail x48, dual ati 4870s, 4GB DDR3, 1000w PSU. 'Something' in it died, I'm assuming the CPU and/or mobo (as I know the cards and ram work fine). Even if the PSU works I would want to replace it as it's loud and not modular (damn thing has been unruly in every case).

What I want is a QUIET PC (hence the corsair cooler and Silverstone cases) for a change without too much sacrifice in performance. I don't need e-peen framerates

I'm looking at two builds:
AM3 PhenomIIx6
Asus Crosshair IV or MS890FX
Sticking with my RAM+Video cards until a good price on a 5970 rolls along or a 6K refresh

or

i7920/930
Motherboard GA-X58A-UD3R
6GB Corsair Dominator
Nvidia dual GTX460s (or keep my 4870s)

I'm worried about moore's law I'm essentially building a rig that is 2years old from release of the tech (i7) and with Bulldozer Sandy-Bridge coming I'd hate to date myself already.

I've my R1 m11x doing full duty right now as well so I am not 100% dead in the water but the little guy can only go so far.

 

[tiraides]

What's the priority of this system? You could go a lot farther with a Core i7/X58-based system (however, reuse your Corsair RAM instead of buying the Dominators), but it will cost a bit more.

If decent gaming performance is a priority for you, the dual GTX 460s are a good idea regardless of which route you take (though that may be another good reason to go Socket 1366).

The new XFX PSUs are pretty good -- they're made by Seasonic -- and you can find several deals on the Black Edition 850W model.

 

[InfernalMachine]

Gaming and rar/ftp'ing, office, web apps, minor video and Photoshop work. Multitasking.

The issue with using ram with an i7 rig is I only have two sticks and this ram is discontinued so i would need to buy the renamed matched pair and ditch one stick for trial channel.

 

[tiraides]

I believe that Danny Bui has the numbers, but the long story short is that a tri-channel RAM configuration doesn't offer a huge (read: noticeable) performance boost over a dual-channel setup. Having said that, however, I still believe that Dominator RAM is overpriced and/or overrated for all but the most serious overclockers.

IIRC, the AMD-based SLI boards aren't as good as those boards with AMD/ATI chipsets. If you're leaning heavily towards the dual GTX 460s, you should strongly consider the X58 system.

 

[Dangman]

I believe that Danny Bui has the numbers, but the long story short is that a tri-channel RAM configuration doesn't offer a huge (read: noticeable) performance boost over a dual-channel setup. .

Correct. The difference is only 2% to 5% at best. Many X58 motherboard do support running dual channel RAM just fine.