My new build

[TX-EcoDragon]

That sounds good to me Rah!

I would stick with the i7-920 - my experience with the i7-860 tells me that it runs hotter than the 920, it also uses the P55 chipset which limits your future upgrades to the higher end 1366 lineup - if that matters to you. The 6 core is currently slated only for a 1366 release, of course by the time that thing is affordable you will probably want a new mobo anyway. 

[TX-Chukar]

I have noticed boards coming out now offering 6g Sata and USB 3.0.  I know Asus had 1 or two in the 1366.  It may not be relevant today.   I doubt there is any device available to take advantage of it but if it's something you think you might upgrade to in the future, you might want to take a look.

 

[TX-Rahman]

My local MicroCenter doesn't have the 920 anymore...Booooooo....

[TX-Rahman]

Well....MicroCenter has more i7 920's in stock and by luck they're D0 stepping!  I picked one up today along with a Megahelams they had in stock!!  Will be buying the rest when I get paid this week... WooHoo!!

Eco, what fan(s) should I get for the Megahelams?

I'm thinking I may go with 2 Intel 80GB 3gbit SSD drives as well...  Have you guys heard anything good or bad about using them?

[TX-Chukar]

 There are some things to check out with SSD’s.   They require a special defragmentation tool and there own diag tools.  Some of these tools will not work if you set them in a raid configuration.  Here is a link to one of Intel’s user’s guide. 

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18455/eng/Intel_SSD_Toolbox_User_Guide.pdf

Mostly just hear people rave about the bloody things though.

[TX-Kingsnake]

I'd think they could only make a record player so small. Thats what a HD looks like to me. I imagine the SSD are the next big thing or already the thing. 

[TX-EcoDragon]

My i7-860 with an SSD boots REALLY fast. . .like fast. . .moving large files to it has always been from network transfers which are rate limited, I imagine loading maps in games would be super fast.

[TX-Chukar]

Another thing that confused me on the SSD’s  was which mode to use, AHCI / IDE Sata.   I think the consensus now would be to use IDE mode but there is still seems to be a lot of differences in the drivers.   Make sure your up to date.