Hello everyone. I've been trolling the forums for a few days now and have been building a machine in my head. It's time to take that machine both out of my brain and also out of my wallet. I tend to build a nice machine then use it until it crawls. I have a budget in my head of about $1400, but am flexable if there is some long term benifit. There are some components that I'm quite happy with and others that I'm sure I could either spend more or less on, but I not knowledgable enough to know what to do. I'd very much appreciate any advice anyone has for me. I may overclock, but it isn't a huge priority to me. It feels a bit like something that I could screw up and as such I may just leave well enough alone. That said, I'd like to leave that option open. So, here is the list and some of my thinking on the components (oh, i do use one of the Dell 24 inch monitors)

Case - Pulled this from the case review on this site. I don't see any particular drawbacks to it. I'm happy with this.
NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811146047
Item #: N82E16811146047
$109.99

Graphics - 2x 4850s... the price is great ($30 MIR on these) and the performace seems to range from pretty good to outstanding.
ASUS EAH4850/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121253
Item #: N82E16814121253
$399.98
($199.99 each)

Memory - No clue on this... I just picked something that looked like a decent 4 gigs. Is this even the right thing to get?
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145197
Item #: N82E16820145197
$136.00

Motherboard - Another thing im clueless on. I know the brand is good and it's new. Is there something that would essentially be as good but cost less?
GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128336
Item #: N82E16813128336
$224.99

CPU - I debated one of the better dual cores, but long term i hope that quad core will offer more performance. I'm overall pretty happy with this choice I think.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9450
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115042
Item #: N82E16819115042
$329.99

Power Supply - I went to ATI's site and looked at approved power supplies for 4850 crossfire setups and this was one of the less expensive models. I know people like to get giant power supplies here, but I thought i might be able to save a few bucks this way. I'm only going to do one Hard drive and one optical drive. Does the fact that im doing a pretty nice processor make a difference here? I'm very much open to other suggestions, but would rather not break the bank if i don't have to.
Antec NeoPower 550 550W ATX12V Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817103941
Item #: N82E16817103941
$84.99

Hard drive - I haven't picked one... I'll just get something big and cheap. I don't require anything special for this (in my mind at least)

CPU cooling - Is the stock fan good enough? if not is there anything reasonably priced that would be significanly better?


That's about it. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this. Advice would be wonderful.

Tom

Final Price ~ $1300 + HD cost

well you should probably look into a x38 motherboard. they are a little cheaper. just make sure to get one with pci-e 2.0 16x. for memory get somthing like this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227267

for a hard drive get something from the seagate 7200.11 harddrives

Looks pretty good for the most part, but I have a couple of suggestions:

For the case, you may also want to consider the Antec Nine Hundred. Many people have good things to say about it, especially good airflow.

As far as memory goes, you don't need the 1066 unless you're doing some serious overclocking on that Q9450. I would recommend some nice 800.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184

The motherboard you have is very good for overclocking as well as having 2 PCI 2.0 x16 slots for your dual 4850s. It's the motherboard I'm including in my current build and from what I've heard handles Q9450 overclocking nicely.

For 2x 4850s you probably want a stronger PSU. This one's only a few bucks more and will guarantee you stability as well as being of good quality.
http://www.provantage.com/corsair- [...] SMC05E.htm

Stock fan is fine unless you want to overclock your CPU.

I personally recommend overclocking your Q9450 to 3.2Ghz or so, even if you're a little uncomfortable with it. For this you might wanna get an aftermarket cooler like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

Nice list. Should do really well for you.
The power supply you picked is actually a very good one. With modular cables (and a 5 year warranty). You can read a review of the Antec NeoPower 550 here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/361/8
It's also made by the same company that make atrain's recommended Corsair 750TX (Seasonic for both).

If you do go with atrain's CPU cooler suggestion also get the XIGMATEK Retention Bracket. It will be easier to bolt through the cooler than use the push pins. Other well regarded CPU coolers are listed here: http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm