jacobhall

Could you provide some more information? It this going to just be for files, or would you want it to be able to handle something like Plex and be able to transcode video too? Also, does that £350 budget include drives?

You might want to create your own thread with your budget also.
 
the e5 2670 might be cheaper then the 2660, you could go lga 1366 and save money as well though a lot less powerful, and most desktop boards will not support ecc.

I'm finding with most used Xeons that the motherboards are most expensive.
 
And thanks for clearing up QPI 

But it's red... and has flashy lights... gotta be a gaming PC

You reminded me of another pet peeve of mine... I know others have already mentioned it, but I'll say it again; Gaming-branded products with the word"Gaming" in the name. Like, is it really necessary? Graphics cards and motherboards are especially bad for this.
 
MSI Gaming 4/6G
Gigabyte Gaming G1
 
The list goes on... 
 
And as if putting the word "gaming" in the name wasn't enough, they also felt it necessary to add the extra "G" at the end. 
 

But it's red... and has flashy lights... gotta be a gaming PC

I do want to say there are some REALLY good post in here, great to see peoples input and opinions on stuff

When people get a like $2000 beast gaming PC and then use a 720p Chinese TV for a monitor, an old Dell keyboard and a trackpad or something. Ugh...

I have quite a bit of experience in blender, was going to enter myself but just short on ideas. I'd potentially be interested in a collaboration, as long as it's aloud.