I'm outta the game...

[Roark]

The 2500 is definitely a top choice... a buddy has one. The FX series doesn't seem to be very impressive spec/benchmark wise, however price point is tempting. Thoughts on the Phenom II 1100T?

If you're going to utilize 6 cores I'd go with the 1090T or FX-6100, lose 100Mhz on the 1090 but save $20 on either.
The FX series certainly was a let-down compared to expectations, but the 4100 is cheaper than a 955BE with performance around a PII X4 970-980.

why spend the extra money on the k edition?

The K version is only $5 more, so the real question should be why not spend the extra money?
Having an unlocked processor increases resale value and leaves the potential open for future forays into OC'ing.

Rather impressed with how fast everyone got all up in arms about someone not wanting to OC...

 

[Crysalis]

Its probably gonna end up coming down to the 1090/1100t vs 2500. I realize 2500 > 1100t, but for price point... meh not worth it.

Rather impressed with how fast everyone got all up in arms about someone not wanting to OC..

Typical. I knew it was coming, thus my statement in first post. I just ignore it. I could overclock with the best of them back when I cared about saving 3 seconds on encoding video, but it wasn't worth it.

 

[Roark]

[url]http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288[/URL]
+$25 for the CPU, +$30-$40 for the MB; personally think its worth the extra to go Intel, but I also don't need 6 cores.