C2D, C2Q or i5?

i5 will be better basically i7 with dual channel, wait for i5, ive seen some 1156 boards being released and theyre not too shabby

It depends on what your main aim is...personally i always wait so that i have the benchmarks available to compare all chips but then again i no longer use desktops like before most of the time i just buy powerful laptops,in your case well if you are willing to wait then wait till the i5 drops and then compare the prices and the performance at this point you will be fine with either a phenom ll or an i5 heck even higher end core 2 duos and core 2 quads will last you a while,many programs are just now been modified to take advantage of all cores and a high clocked core 2 based chip can handle any multi threaded app or program just fine, the i5 will obviously be better for future proofing and might have better features than the current crop of phenom ll based cpu's however by then new phenom ll chips will be getting ready to be released...truth is you can never really keep up with technology, personally the only reason i would even consider i5 over phenom ll is hyperthreading and extra cache for demanding programs and cpu intensive tasks if that's what you do,but realistically speaking a high clocked phenom ll will give you all the cpu power you need for mainstream tasks....often at a better price.

There's really no point in waiting too long with computer kit as you'll always be holding off for the bigger and better thing. So I say just go for the best performing kit your budget will allow.

i5 is mainstream Nehalem and despite the mucking about Intel's been doing with Nehalem I see more longevity in socket 1366 (i7) than 1156 (i5) - the new 32nm chips with 6 and 8 cores will be 1366 and triple-channel RAM has a lot of untapped potential.

Personally I'd build a Core i7 920 system as it is becoming more affordable and will give you a great deal of longevity - i7 920 is an overclocking monster, X58 mobos are commonly supporting 24GB RAM now, you can whack a second GTX275 in SLI when you need the graphics performance and that's all without changing the CPU if you want an 8-core in a few years.

If you go mainstream now (i5 or Core 2) then you'll find it's low-end in a few years. Going upper-mid to high end now with i7 you have much more longevity.

Upgrade possibility is not in my consideration as metioned in my 1st post. Thanks anyway.

So merely $1000 is sufficient for high end PCs in the U.S.? Lucky Americans. I envy you guys.

Bull Sxxt! Your income is more than twice as the Taiwanese and the cost in Taiwan is still much more expensive than in North America.

For example, the i7-920 is $9100 TWD tax inclusive which is about $275 USD, whereas, $200 USD only at Microcenter in the U.S.

That's not true as well. I believe that not even one country's citizens' annual income is higher than the citizens of the U.S.

Didn't mean to sound rude. I just ENVY you Americans too much.

no problems, i didnt take offense.

and im canadian homie. ;p

i think they might be zoning out the i7 920 soon to make way for the i5 variant so scrap wat i said earlier purchace now

PC component prices here in south america are like twice as high as in the US....
Cheapest i7..... $370 (US dollars)
Phenom II 940 $240
ATI 4870 $270
I just have to find my ways of buying stuff in the US.... (already preordered Win 7 lol)

yip, get the i7