Well, I just bought an Intel i7 2600 CPU with a Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 motherboard with 16GB of RAM. It is the first Intel chip that I have bought since 1987. I must say that I am impressed with the performance. I do a lot of VMware and this new chip and board handle the VM's with ease. I have been an AMD fan in the past, but it seems that AMD hasn't kept up this time with performance vs price point.