It’s taken days to put my new dev machine together, but totally worth it!
My old Core2Duo had a meagre Window Experience Index (WEI) of 4.5:
The new system, with the help of a 120GB Corsair Force 3 GT SSD achieved a bumper 7.9 on both HD and RAM performance! Overall, I’m only let down by my very reasonably prized duo-DVI NVIDIA graphics card, but a WEI of 6.7 still represents a massive improvement. Visual Studio now loads in the blink of an eye! :-D
After much research and consideration, I opted for the NZXT Phantom full tower, which is a little bigger than what I’m used to (I usually go for mid-towers). It looks great on the outside and is very spacious on the inside, so plenty of room to work with..
The case has pretty good air flow (with 7-fan cooling including an optional slot for a 200mm fan on the side) and one of the really nice things I like about this case are the fan controls at the top of the case (see picture below):
And once my LG 24" monitor arrives I will finally hit the 3-screen sweet spot as suggested by Mr Hansleman, exciting times!