Best CPU-Mobo combo for ~20k (both Intel and AMD options)

[warfreak]

What would be the best combination of cpu and mother board for a budget of ~20k?
I have no idea about performance of AMD processors but here is my choice for intel:

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz 12.95k
MotherBoard: ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 9.7k (best board in <10k i've come across)

Total ~ 22.6k

The problem is it overshoots the budget by 2.6K. What would be the AMD variant to offer similar performance. Also if there is another option for intel which is cheaper, please suggest.

 

[the_conqueror]

A few questions -
1. What is the purpose of your PC ?
2. Will you be overclocking ?

 

[Chaitanya]

If you don't plan to overclock then look for this
Mobo : ASUS P8H77-MLE Motherboard @ 7.9k
Proccy : Core i5 3450 @ 12.6k
~20.5k


else you could go with
Mobo : Intel DH67CL Motherboard @ 5.6k
Proccy : Core i5-2400 @ 11.8k
~17.6k

 

[warfreak]

A few questions -
1. What is the purpose of your PC ?
2. Will you be overclocking ?

1. Mostly work on VMWare and run many cpu intensive applications at a time(Only for testing purposes though) most of my VMs are server 2008R2 planing to upgrade to 2012 when it arrives. I use highly threaded applications and also games like Skyrim, DOTA and UT3 for arnd 1-2 hours a day.
Features I need: VT-X(for running 64bit VMs) Atleast 4 cores. Motherboard with maximum amount of Memory(Planning to incrementaly upgrade RAM upto 32GB)
You can see I am asking for a lot but I am really tight on cash. what I require is a really solid futureproof motherboard with support for IvyBridge so that in future I have the option to upgrade to a faster i7 ivy bridge based processor.

2. Yes

 

[thetechfreak]

your own choice is ok-

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz 12.95k
MotherBoard: ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 9.7k

See if you can fit in a CM Hyper 212 too

 

[ico]

AMD FX-8120 + Gigabyte 990FX-UD5. 8 cores - although slower core to core compared with SNB/IVB, but still faster for your purpose.

Do you need VT-d (PCI Passthrough) as well? Intel K series configs won't have it. They only have VT-x with K series. AMD has both VT-d and VT-x.

 

[warfreak]

I went through performance of the FX series. Although there isn't much difference between Bulldozer and SNB/IVB, i think I will go with my first choice.

BTW regarding the motherboard, I am satisfied with my current gfx card(8800GTS) so not planning to upgrade gfx for atleast a few months. But i may get a midrange nvidia or ati card in future.
So will my mobo be compatible with my current card as well as any future card I purchase?