phenom II x6, i920, or c2q 9650?

Im currently building a new pc and having trouble picking a platform!! I had a 920 system and the c2q9650x system in my sig. I use to game alot, not so much anymore. These days im more into coding. Basically i want to build a really fast desktop the can eat up anything i throw at it, but will also be good for games when i throw a set of video cards in it!

Right now thing i know i want for sure is an OCZ ssd, a 28inch monitor and 8gb of ram. Also no less than 4 cores. Money is rough these days and i will not be buying any cpu over 350 dollars. I just want a multitasking beast.

I never used the i920 as my primary gaming rig as it didnt get as many fps. But like i said this time around ill be doing mostly coding, blu ray ripping and media stuff, web design and photoshop tasks, maybe some mapping for games. Im hoping later i can throw in a set of video cards and get 50fps in crysis at 1900x1200.

My first choice is acually a phenom x6. I read the review on toms hardware though and was surprised to see how much the intel cpu's were stomping. Although the i6 seems like a very future proof way to go still and alot cheaper as far as ram and mobo goes. The i7 seemed to be a zippy cpu but the 12mb of l3 is what has me thinking a q9650 is still my best bang for the buck.

what would you guys reccomend at this point in time. Been outa the hardware game for about a year and out of the AMD scene since my 3.0ghz san diego x64.

Right now im only on a netbook which i love but sometimes its a bit to slow for my taste and i miss have an array of huge screens in front of me . Also this system will most likely be ran at stock clocks, im tired of listing to 6 hi speed yates mounted on raditors. I want quiet air cooled pc this time around, blah how boring growing up sucks lol.

my vote would be for the i7 still, esp when you talk about ocing and 24/7 stable clocks.

My vote would be for the i7 as well.

Either a 920 or a X6, the core2quads can't keep up with either one.
Between the two performance in stuff with 8+ threads is pretty close.
Performance with things that have 5-7 threads the X6 wins.
Performance with stuff with 1-4 threads the 920 wins.

Games they're pretty equal with <5 threads though the 920 wins more then it looses, and the X6 wins above that.

Both seem to OC to 4ghz-4.2ghz on air fairly easily.

Personally i'd go with whichever costs less.
The i7 920's socket is dying next year, while AM3 will likely be around at least a couple more years. So if you plan on keeping the mobo and upgrading the cpu later, the X6 is a better call IMO.

Ya i dont plan on doing any serious oc with this sytem, as i said i want silent air cooling.

I had no idea 1366 was already out the door seems like the 920 i had was the newest cpu on the block just yesterday lol. Is i5 also lga1366? I definately want something future proof, the only reason i thought about the c2q was for the 12mb of cache, i know my qx9650 did alot better than my 920 in most games.

AM3 should stick around? are you saying amd is going to be able to stuff octacores and higher clock hex's on there 45nm architecture.

I think AMD will update their socket once bulldozer comes out next year (supposedly). The only reason AM2+/AM3 have lasted so long is because AMD hasn't really changed their chip design since 2003.