Rig Upgrade, advice needed

[Canadian in Berlin]

First some Background. I currently have an Asus G73 as a primary computer (I like the portability), but want to free up the desk space that it takes up by putting a 30-inch monitor there instead. :O My current gaming machine runs pretty much anything just fine, but I imagine the jump to a 30-inch pen...errr... monitor might be enough to stress it hard on some of the newer games.

So UPGRADE!

I'm posting for help because my work schedule keeps me from getting caught up to speed with whats what(I work waaaaay too much). I've been reading that Sandy Bridge awesome, and the 6970 is the best bang for your buck, but thats about all I've got...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Gaming: Wide Range of stuff, Shogun Total War 2, Rift, Crysis, even minecraft

I often watch video or even HD Video while gaming on the second monitor.

VMWare ESXi: I'll be dual-booting this box sometimes and running a call manager cluster in ESXi for lab purposes when the lab at work is full, for this I'll mostly need 12GB of RAM, CPU Power should be fine with anything modern.

VMWare: I test and tinker with various linux in Vmware run out of windows
GNS3: I emulate various cisco IOS devices in windows

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

~1000 euros, preferably less

3) Where do you live?

Berlin, Germany.

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

CPU - quad core, sandy bridge maybe?
RAM - 12GB (for the vmware)
Case - if it fits in the budget yes, then I can run the old rig as my primary ESX box without a lot of reconstruction. I'd consider watercooling this someday.
Power Supply - I'd want one to feed the old rig, GTX285, Quad Core (Corsair HX-450 or HX-650?), or I might want a bigger one for the new rig and use the HX-850 thats in there now?
HD - Games should install here, i have a 120GB SSD currently in the old rig where I would install the OS.
Video Card - 6970? 2x6970? or NVIDIA?

CPU Cooler (air for now, or maybe an H60/H70?)
Video Cooler (air for now)


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

- possibly power supply
- possibly case
Intel NIC (for esxi support)

6) Will you be overclocking?

I'd like to

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

1x 30 inch (2560x1600)
1x 24 inch (1920x1080)

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

In the next 2-3 months

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.

Crossfire or SLI maybe depending on the video card(s)?
USB 3.0 would be nice to have
eSata would be nice to have

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

Windows 7 x64 professional
Various Linux distros
ESXi


Or if anyone thinks it would be better/easier/"why not just do it" to go straight into water cooling with the build, then feel free to reccomend some parts here as well. (this would be a seperate budget)

 

[Dangman]

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In the next 2-3 months

Too early to start planning a new build man. Whatever parts we recommend today may not be the same parts we recommend a month from now let alone 2-3 months from now. So if you want up-to-date advice, your best bet is to wait 2-3 weeks before your actual build/parts buy date and ask for advice then.

 

[Canadian in Berlin]

thing is, I pay for this from my overtime, then I can skip the income tax (as the "company" buys it"... and the required overtime can happen in an unlucky (or lucky depending on the viewpoint) weekend or week. Hence wanting to have a rough idea what I'd be looking at.

If I work a 90 hour week next week, I'd want to buy the rig not long after that...

 

[Dangman]

thing is, I pay for this from my overtime, then I can skip the income tax (as the "company" buys it"... and the required overtime can happen in an unlucky (or lucky depending on the viewpoint) weekend or week. Hence wanting to have a rough idea what I'd be looking at.

If I work a 90 hour week next week, I'd want to buy the rig not long after that...

Ok, we really can't give you a good rough idea 2-3 months in advance. There's quite a few new parts coming out i.e AMD's Bulldozer CPUs, AMD's HD 7xxx series cards, etc. So the current Intel and AMD GPUs that we're recommending so much these days may not be the right choice in a 2 to 3 months from now.