Building a new PC

[Nellah]

In the grand scheme of things won't buying an i7 cpu/mb over the i5 increase the upgradability in the future? (investing in the computers lifespan almost makes the i7 worth it if that’s true)

Not at all. The old i7s (LGA1366) like the one you listed are EOL, there are no more upgrades coming for that motherboard. The new chips (Sandy Bridge i5s and i7s) both use LGA1155, which I'm fairly sure has been confirmed to have at least one new chip line going into it (Ivy Bridge late this year?)

Basically, Intel 2xxx chips have upgrade paths... Intel 5xx, 6xx, 7xx, 8xx, 9xx do not.

[Toccs]

Thank you everyone for your advice.