Hi I know there's been alot of Xeon threads + Houdini in the past, but what do you all think about these builds techspot are posting ? My favorite out of the 2 is the 40 core not just because more cores but it has a more up-to-date architecture.

32 Core build:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1155-affordable-dual-xeon-pc/ [techspot.com]

40 Core build:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1218-affordable-40-thread-xeon-monster-pc/ [techspot.com]

Wow a lot of numbers, but I did not see the one I was looking for. What is the real price?

I guess that depends on how lucky you are on your e-bay shopping and what parts you already have, for instance I already have a PSU that would be able to support these machines. So based on my own needs and if I was lucky on E-bay (free internationl shipping etc) I would end up arond 7-800 usd.