yea i'd personally go with a nice big VNT. as mentioned in previous posts, the main reason the VNT's are dying is because they are directly matched to the engines output, and not over-engineered. just get a nice big one and off you go.
if you have the money to spend on a ball bearing turbo, go that route. it will spool as fast if not faster than the VNT's. $$$$$ though!