New Intel build questions

[ninjayar]

I'm sure glad you guys don't seem to mind checking people's work. I appreciate all that I've read on here. I'm building a replacement for an 8+ year old Dell Dimension desktop that's served me well, but is being pushed to its limits and beginning to fail (lockup). I haven't built a system in a long while so most of what I have to choose from is new to me. My budget is $1,200. Here are my needs, in order:

MS Office apps (huge, often complex spreadsheets)
Web browsing
Graphics (Corel Draw, Gimp, Photoshop)
Ripping, burning, organizing and playing CDs, DVDs and MP3s
Occassional gaming

Here's what I'm thinking:

Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced Case $90
Antec BP-550 PSU $65
Intel i7-860 $295
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit $140
ASUS P7P55D-E LX motherboard $125
G.SKILL Ripjaws (2 x 4GB) 1333 SDRAM F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL $85
WD Caviar Black (2 x 1TB) $180
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI Express 2.0 x16 $140
-----
$1120

If you think I'd see an appreciable difference, I could upgrade to:

Intel i7-950 (same $$$)
ASUS Sabertooth X58 motherboard +$75
G.SKILL Ripjaws (3 x 4GB) 1333 SDRAM F3-10666CL9T-12GBRL +$50
-----
$1245

I think an i7-2600K setup will really blow my budget but I can't find a lot of 1155 mobos and I'm not sure I'd see much difference in what I do.

Do you see any places where the same or less money would be better spent?

Thanks for any advice you can give. I'm hoping to do this in the next few days.

 

[joelmartinez]

If you can wait until SB is re-released that will be your best choice $1200 will accommodate a 2600K fine (get the non-K version in no oc'ing)

 

[Deleted member 217926]

^ +1

If you can wait for April then for $300 an i7 2600K is a MUCH better deal than an i7 860.

 

[ninjayar]

Thanks to you both. I don't mind waiting as long as my current system stays alive. So, is April the expected rerelease date for the P67 boards? Amazon has the ASUS Sabertooth P67 for $230 now with an expected ship date in 1 to 3 weeks. I guess that's to allow for restocking the new boards but that would be early March. Will I still be able to use the G.SKILL Ripjaws (2 x 4GB) 1333 SDRAM F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL?

Any thoughts on the other components? Video, case, PSU, memory?

 

[ninjayar]

If you can wait until SB is re-released that will be your best choice $1200 will accommodate a 2600K fine (get the non-K version in no oc'ing)

I looks like there's only about a $20 difference between the 2600 and the 2600K. Is the only difference overclocking? I've never overclocked a cpu and don't know why I would now. If that's the ONLY difference, then, yeah, I'll probably save the $20. But if there's anything else about the 2600K, it might be worth the extra $20.

I assume the benchmark charts are comparing the 2600 to an overclocked 2600K to give the K version the edge?

 

[joelmartinez]

No difference between the 2600 and 2600K besides oc'ing