Building new rig-advice appreciated

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Hi folks,
As the title says...

It's CPUs and mobos that are making my head spin so I though I'd ask you more experienced peeps for your opinions.

I'm looking to be able to run a virtual server and a few virtual clients. I have a limited budget but I want to future-proof to a reasonable extent. I'm going to use windows7 as the OS.
So far all I've come up with is that 64 bit seems to be the way to go for future-proofing.
So, what 64 bit CPU, in your opinion, offers the best bang for my buck. It doesn't need to go like s**t off a shovel but I don't want it limping across the finishing line in 5 years either.

 

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I haven't done a ton of research recently, as my 3-year-old Core 2 Duo is still humming along nicely... but if I were building a new computer today, I'd probably get a Core i7.

 

one of the i cores, i5, i3 or i7. Preferably I7. the I7 920 is a good starter and not too pricey. Remember, the i7 is on a different socket to the i5 or i3. the i9 6 core is coming out in the near future and that is running on the i7 socket. So I will recommend getting the I7 920. It's upgradable to a decent number and future proof as you can get now.

See Here

 

If you are building the rig for high end gaming and general usage go for core 2 duo or i5. NOthing uses 4 cores although there are games starting emerge that recommend a 4 core processor such as q6600 for operation flashpoint 2.

If you are the type of person who says hey I've got the latest hardware, then secretly say under your breath althoug it's useless for a few year then go for i7 or if you do high end autoCAD and video editing.

If you go for i7 or i5 you have to go for DDR3 RAM. DDR3 is still quite slow and very expensive, there have also been issues with some DDR3 causing issues on some motherboards even though it's supposed to be compatible.

If you want my honest opinion then it would be a high end core 2 duo cpu such as E8400, E8500 or E8600, if you want a good motherboard brand then it's Asus or Gigabyte and the most important component is the PSU the best brands are: Seasonic, Corsair (made by seasonic), PC power and cooling and CWT.

Bad brands: Rosewill, Winpower, Huntkey (have a habit of exploding). Antec are in the middle, they used make really good PSUs but a couple of years ago they started periodically changing suppliers to save cost on component production however this has caused lots of reliability issues.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

 

I like both of these.

I would also recommend Enermax. I have not heard of CWT.

Agreed. I have also heard the Antec story... they actually started changing about 3 or 4 years ago, because the rumors of lower-quality equipment were already starting to make their way around the Net when I built my system in mid-'06.

 

CWT is the manufacturer behind Corsair and Thermaltake PSUs.

I agree with what the guys are saying, it all depends on how much you'd like to spend really.

 

Ah, they must be pretty decent, then. Heard nothing but good about Tt gear.

 

Are Silverstone PSUs any good?

 

From what i've heard yes but i've never had any experience with them and if memory serves me right they're expensive.

 

Actually seasonic make corsair these days. If you go for thermal take their only good brand is the toughpower pro series.

Silverstone power supplies are ok, the make better cases than power supplies

 

Thanks everyone. That's helped sort out the confusion a little.
I was going to ask about PSUs but you've already covered that.
Once I've managed to crowbar the last of my savings out of the bank I'll make some decisions and no doubt ask for some more specific advice.