Budget Gaming+Design Build

Approximate Purchase Date: Sometime before the end of January (or sooner)

Budget Range: $600-700 After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Graphic Design(Solidworks and CAD), Media, Web Browsing

Parts Not Required: Ignore the keyboard, mouse, monitor, tower, and hdd

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country of Origin: NC, USA

Parts Preferences: looking into the i5 and i7s

Overclocking: Probably not

SLI or Crossfire: Probably not

Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024 and higher

Additional Comments: On a fair budget. Looking for the core parts. Mobo, CPU, PSU, RAM, and Graphics Card. I can get other parts pretty easy through friends and what not. But its been suggested that I go for the x58 as it has i7 support and tri-channel memory, and there is a definite trend over the years in apps/games moving away from heavy use of Graphics Cards and into the CPU and RAM. That said its a huge commitment. Looking at 600 in just Mobo+CPU+RAM. So I was looking into the i5s, so I could put a little more into the Graphics Card. Really I just don't know enough to determine which chipset (1156 or the 1366) i can get the most out of in the future.

Overall I'm looking to have this be solid for at least two years. I don't need Maximum High End Gaming. I'm satisfied with being able to run anything at Medium to even low, if it makes it two years.

Oh, If you're going to break the budget, do so with the graphics card. As thats my splurge part. :-p

Thanks. :-)

EDIT - I totally spaced on Sandy Bridge release upcoming here in January. So the chipset is irrelevant. That said I think I might try and scoop up some of these parts, when the sales hit after the release.