Here is everything I have so far. Might upgrade the processor later on or overclock the one I have on the way.

1 EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI DDR3 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

1 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

1 ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail

1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

1 SUPER TALENT Project X 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1800 (PC3 14400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model W1800UX4GP - Retail

2 EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

2 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

1 Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

1 LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GGC-H20L - Retail

1 LG 20X DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH20NS10 - OEM

1 Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support - Retail

1 Antec 761345-75120-9 120mm Case Fan - Retail

Antec 900 Case with 950 PS. Price near $2800 for everything.

why 280gtx get 4850 or 4870 better

Those GTX280s will be utterly wasted on that screen resolution. Get at least a 24" monitor. Also, is 950W actually enough to power two of those beasties?

Forgot to mention that sometimes I will be using my 46" LCD 1080P Flat-Screen TV as a montior as well.

If 950W is not enough then I will buy a 1200W or if needed a 1350W PSU with another GTX280 card and 2 more monitors.

I really like the ATI 4870 but the only reason I plan to stick with the 280GTXs is for its all out performance. If you can prove to me that the 4870 is alot better (besides price) then the 280GTX I will have 2 on the way as soon as I am convenced.

4870 won't outperform the GTX280 in almost any situations, but its price/performance is FAR higher. Also, since you aren't using a 2560 x 1600 monitor (30" LCD - and yeah, your TV is a much lower resolution than that, it has nearly twice as many pixels as your 1920*1080 TV), there performance of dual 4870s will be so high (over 60fps in almost every game) that you won't be able to tell the difference.

It's highly recommended that you look for benchmarks before you toss $650 at a card.

ditch your zalman 9500.

Xigmatek S1283 instead

and we're not going to prove to you that the 4870 is a lot better, a GTX280 is faster, not by much at nearly double the price. im sure everyone on Toms is on consensus that the 4870 is a way better buy than the GTX 280, and if you really want to go high end, i suggest you wait a bit longer for the 4870x2 if you want all out performance.

i'm pretty sure there is no doubt, the 4870x2 will cream the GTX 280 at the same price range.

Wait for a HD 4870 X2...i think its the best card that suites your need. Since money is not a problem to you.

But for now a CF of HD 4870 can easily out perform your 280GTX. or just a cheaper CF HD 4850 can do.

He's got two of 'em So that will beat CF 4870s by a little, but for a heck of a premium.

Yup... 280GTX is a powerful card when SLI'ed....but not in all games/applications...

^ +1

Dang 4870 pwnage. Thanks for posting that - I should have looked back at the benchies first

So basically, the GTX280 SLi option looks even worse! But this is at a resolution twice as high as the OP has...

Wow.....ATi does kick some major booty for the price but i'm waiting to see what NVidia has instore for the PhysX processor. I absolutely love physics in games and thats why as of now Half-Life 2 Orange Box and Crysis are my favorite games to date.

BTW is the GTX280 benchmarked in 2xSLI or 3xSLI?

It's a 2xSLI GTX280...most of the reviews doesn't recommend 3xSLI

Dude your just wasting your money/power consumption for a SLI'ed GTX280. I suggest that you go for CF HD 4870. And save your money for a 2xHD 4870 X2

That's just my two cents! Good luck!

To date very few games have scaled very well to 2 or 3 GPUs, so I don't think you'd see much of a performance increase with 3 GTX280s, though I haven't seen benchmarks on that (no review site seems to be able to get three of them on hand, much less a PSU to power the colossus).

4870x2 your choice

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341

One of many reviews on the web, but I tend to trust Anand and Derek. While this is not 'proof', it shows that the 4870's in CF are a very viable alternative to anything that Nvidia has at this time. And at quite a bit of savings...

On another note, I'd dump the DDR3 (and the associated MB) until the price comes down or the requirements for that much speed appear (can we say Nehalem, boys and girls?).

Personally, I'm fed up with Nvidia's inability to provide appropriate drivers, timely updates etc., and will be getting a 4850 to replace my current Nvidia solution.