New Work/Gaming PC Build - Requesting MOBO/RAM Recommendations - YOUR TWO CENTS GOES HERE!

Mujeres del Noche,

I'm looking for some sub-frills sata3/usb3 mobo and ram recommendations to assist a friend with a new build. If anyone has any experiences or partiality to a particular setup (preferably not vicariously lol) please post. I looked at both the 990 and 970 boards, but wasn't sure if there was a realistic value in saving approx 40 bucks.

Also, its been a few days since I've built out a PC, but based off of our current builds, I'm leaning towards an AMD 8 core processor, 120gb ssd, and a gtx 680 video card with 2gb of ram. If there is a preference for an ATI card, please post. Prior experience has been positive with the ATI cards with the exception of the video card drivers requiring a sort of exorcism, if you will.

I have read some reviews saying the 8 core processors had less stutter during gaming, but I've always used the "1/3-1/2 budget to graphics" as a rule of thumb for gaming, so wanted to see if there was any truth to that as well.

No overclocking planned

Here we go:

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: this week - next week (ASAP)

Budget Range: $1500 USD target, otherwise flexible

System Usage from Most to Least Important: This is a work pc for a business owner that spends copious amounts of overnights at his business, with sporadic gaming time available.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: UPGRADE ALL THE PARTS

Do you need to buy OS: Yes - W7 Pro planned

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon and Newegg

Parts Preferences: AMD, ASUS, Cooler Master, Mushkin, but nowadays I'll take proven over name brand. (been a while, so any ram feedback is appreciated)

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Additional Comments: Looking for a mobo/ram combo that can run a sweet ass video card and somewhere between 8-16gb of ram. Doesn't have to be all OC crazy BIOS with chameleon lights and disco ball in case. Air cooled with an aftermarket cpu cooler. Think "sleeper".

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: We've angered the economy


So far, this is what I've got selected:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130768 ] EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB @ $490 [/url]

If there is some benefit to having an additional 2gb of ram on the gpu, please post as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284 ] AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz @ $200[/url]

With

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514 ] GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 @ $140 [/url]

(has a $20 promo through 5/19)

OR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519 ] GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 @ $95 [/url]

I listed the 970 board because the plan is to only have the one graphics card, if that helps, but if its worth the $40 bucks to upgrade, he'll live.
(both boards have $10 off code through 5/19, fwiw)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010 ] Corsair HX Series HX750 80 Plus Gold Cert, Modular @ $140 [/url]

Promo for $15 off through 5/20

If there is a better mobo with just a single PCI slot and 2 ram slots, I wouldn't turn my nose up to that as I'm more partial to simple than budget. We'll end up going with a OCZ Vertex ssd for the primary drive and then from there see where the night takes us.



Thanks everyone for your time and consideration.