Upgrading from LGA775

[CeZemal]

It's been some years since my last build (E8400, Asus P5Q-E, HD 4870, etc), and I'm looking towards putting together a lovely new machine. I'll answer the questions as seen in the sticky

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Lots of gaming, video editing, CAD, etc

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Anywhere between 3000 and 3500. I would like a Beast of a machine

3) Where do you live?
Kentucky

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.
-a case with good air flow and some flashy lights (USB 3.0 in the front I/O panel is a huge plus)
-Mobo (looking at the Asus Sabertooth P67)
-CPU (i7-2600K)
-RAM
-Video card(s)
-PSU
-Optical drive
-Hard drives
-any and All peripherals

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

6) Will you be overclocking?
I would like to, yes.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I would like 3 monitors running at 1920x1080, size is variable for now.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
About mid April-ish

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
The Asus Sabertooth P67 has everything I'm looking for (USB 3.0 headers for front I/O, I think, SATA3, all the good stuff).

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No, I will be needing a new liscense for Windows 7. Home Premium 64bit should do just fine.



So yeah, starting from scratch. I don't have a mouse, keyboard, speakers, headset, monitors, nothing (I'm on a lappy right now). This will be for Mid April-ish though. I know NVidia and AMD are going to roll out their dual GPU cards here in about a month or so, so that may change things up a bit. But for now, any suggestions to get the most power in the system as I can? Or if more information is needed? Thanks in advance for any time put in to help me out

 

[Dangman]

Well the problem is that you're planning on buying in April. So basically, whatever parts recommendations we make today will probably not be the same parts we recommend in April. Especially due to the all teething issues that many Sandy Bridge setups are now facing.

In other words, no point in making a recommendation right now when you're 90% likely to end up with mostly different parts in April.

So your best bet for UP TO DATE advice would be to ask again 2-3 weeks before you actually buy.

 

[PinataUT]

Are monitors part of the budget?

It'll be interesting to see what the recommendations are in March when you're getting closer to order.

 

[Ultima99]

Thats a nice budget to build a great system but with that kind of money I'd personally feel since you are already waiting until mid April like it would be best to hold off another 6-8 months and plan out an epic LGA2011 build. Though it is a long time to wait, it would kill me to see a system with such a budget get railed in only half a year.

 

[team_anonymous]

^ I was thinking the same thing.

Do you absolutely have to have a desktop before August? Rather than building a Sandy Bridge system in April that will be crushed by a similarly-priced 2011 system four months later, what about buying a much less expensive LGA1366 system from the sell/trade forum here? You would save yourself a ton in depreciation, and could sell the 1366 system when 2011 comes out.

 

[friedchicken]

IMO, you could build a killer PC for $2000 by buying last-gen hardware. Take the other $1000 and buy yourself some ice cream.