I agree with Buddy J on the numbers as far as build costs are concerned. In my thinking, though, I think the LGA 1366 and DDR3 will have legs for a few years. New generations of the Intel chips area coming down the pike so prices on the current I-7's will trend down. DDR3 prices will trend down. I do think, though that the price difference is nearly proportional to the performance difference based on reviews and comparisons I've seen so far. I still think, for the kind of computing I do, it becomes a better choice for me to go the I-7 route.