Sandy Bridge "system refresh"

[castrwilliam]

I'm looking to pick up an Intel Sandy Bridge CPU and motherboard for Christmas. My budget is $400-$500 for both. I definately want an unlocked "K" model, hopefully 2500K, 2600K or 2700K. My current specs are:

PhII X6 1090T OC'd to 3.8
2x4 GiB DDR3/1600
MSI 890FXA-GD70
HIS Radeon HD 6970
Antec Truepower-something 650W on the Nine Hundred case

I would like to get your opinions for what motherboard and CPU I want. I know next to nothing about building new Intel Platform systems. I want to keep my current Graphics, RAM, case and PSU, and start out with the stock cooler. I'm a gamer but I also transcode media, and I really like to overclock. I'll probably be ordering my system on an after-Christmas sale at Newegg.

Edit: sorry, posted it as a Question and not a Opinion thing!

 

[amuffin]

2600k, 2700k is not worth it, also it depends on what brand you like for the mb. Gigabyte and asus are good companies.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey

 

[castrwilliam]

I like MSI, I've bought their boards for the last few builds. And I thought the 2600k was better for transcoding because it had hyper-threading and some IGP that could work wonders (HD 3000)?

 

[crazyfoo88]

Both the 2500K and 2600K have the HD3000 graphics for IGP. However, the 2600k also has the hyperthreading which does allow for faster transcoding. If you game only, 2500k is a no brainer. If you use programs that take advantage of hyperthreading (photoshop, final cut etc) then go for the 2600k.

I like MSI, I've bought their boards for the last few builds. And I thought the 2600k was better for transcoding because it had hyper-threading and some IGP that could work wonders (HD 3000)?

 

[castrwilliam]

The motherboard shouldn't matter whether I get 2500k or 2600k, right? So what MSI boards would you guys recommend? Also, are there any comparisons between the 1090T, the 2500K, and the 2600K overclocked on air?