What are the best, current options for mining rigs/setups for $3-4K?

[subetha]

Hey everyone.  Like the topic says, I want bitcoins, and have 3-4k to spend on a mining setup. 

What kind of hash rates can I get now with various setups? 
What's the best route for me to take. 
Power cost isn't an issue for me. 

What's the best hash rate for "Build it myself" system now?  I can build pc's and setup linux, plus I can work with a barebones FPGA kit.  (What can 3-4K get me in a barebones FPGA setup?)

How about a used GPU rig? 
What will that get me in pre-setup FPGA's? 

Does someone want to build one for me, or sell me their used setup?  GPU or FPGA?  I'll entertain any offers! 

Thanks for your help!

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[Zanatos666]

Obviously the thing is offsetting the cost of your setup with the hash rate you will receive them them, thus how quickly it will return your investment. Not having to worry about cost is a nice, big plus for you.

For me, I know where to get some 7970 GPU cards for under $400.  At 600+MH/s, to me thats a heck of a return.  Combine that with a board that can accept multiple cards/extenders and you could be working with something good (at least in my opinion).  I personally am using BAMT in one of my miners.  Running the setup off a USB drive vs a HDD means 1) not cost of a HDD for me, and 2) lesser chance of it crashing on me.  That, and not having to fork over $ for a windows install (assuming you arent running Linux).

Next would be case, power, and cooling.  The biggest part being cooling.  If you are trying to run 4 cards off of one rig, you will need a nice 1200w PSU that can keep up with with that 12v rail draw and not burn out on you.

[subetha]

Thanks for the info, I did price that setup.  At around 2k for each pc with 4 cards, (no case needed),  that would get around 4800Mh/s for $4k.

I wonder what the price cut might be on a used setup for that same hash rate..

[iano128]

If your not afraid of using either old or used tech you could go for tri-5970's. I run two identical machines with this set up on windows 7 with cgminer. It's pretty bullet proof and they get about 2100mh/s per machine on average. The best part is that you can pick up 5970's for around 300euro. The expensive part is a 1000watt power supply but its definitely not a good idea to cheap on the power when running three dual core cards.

[bitcoinville]

i wonder is it even worth buying gpu when butterfly new stuff coming out in less then two months

[Zanatos666]

There rages the debate, and we shall all see.  Its all a wait and see game until the new ASIC chips start rolling out.  Then, where do GPU miners go from there?  Litecoin?  Only time will tell.  But until those chips start rolling out and we start seeing those promised hash rates/low power consumption at great prices, which should trigger the difficulty to explode, its all a guessing game.