Is i7-920 still the chip to get?

[EarthwormJim]

I'd honestly say the AMD hexcores are the best value right now. They overclock as well as bloomfield/lynnfield CPUs.

AMD doesn't seem to kill off healthy sockets at arbitrary times either.

 

[SHAQ]

860 will have lower SLI performance if you ever add another video card. If you always stay with one card it will be okay. That will be more important for future video card upgrades. I would rather have the 1366 platform(920/930) though since you could pick up a used 6 core(980X/970) later on while everyone else is upgrading to Sandy Bridge or the next platform after that. And memory price is the same since you can use 2 sticks on 1366 also. The 860 mobo will be a dead end.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Well, went to MC and picked up the 930 for $199 + tax. Now to start researching the other parts of the build hah.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[Makaveli]

Better bang for the buck. And from what I've seen, Lynnfield overclocks fine, 4+ GHz not too much of a problem on air (partly because an i860 is higher stock speed than a 920 anyway, there's your bang for the buck). You mainly need to increase the voltage to get the PCI-e controller overclocking along, but no big deal... especially since it runs cooler than a 920 by default anyway.

It uses less power yes, but you need more voltage to get to the same overclock as the 920 so it kinda of evens out.

 

[SHAQ]

Well, went to MC and picked up the 930 for $199 + tax. Now to start researching the other parts of the build hah.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

Luckily you live near one. We really need someone at Anandtech to buy for the rest of us unfortunates. lol