well. i recently stumbled upon something.
i7 920's are 120 and up on ebay...
the xeon w3520 is basically the exact same chip, and *usually* will work with any x58 motherboard.
they are 40-45 bucks on ebay.
also, if your mobo supports it, lower wattage tdp xeon chips are available,
such as the xeon l5520 i just bought on ebay for 42 bucks shipped.
60 watt tdp, and also works in dual 1366 mobo's, but is potentially less compatible with regular desktop boards.
i had an old evga board laying around, and basically all the other parts i would need to build an extra comp. so i figure for 40 bucks (and maybe some tri channel memory i might need to buy) i have a fully working i7 rig.
anyways, just thought i might spread the awesomeness, if you guys have older parts laying around, but don't want to shell out for an i7 chip...
peace!