Looking to build a new PC and was thinking about these components:

E8500
Asus P5Q Pro
2 x Corsair 2GB DDR2 800
Sapphire 4870
Antec TPQ- 850 850W
Pioneer 20x DVD R
WD Caviar 500GB 7200RPM

I'll probably be running at 1680 x 1050 resolution.

I was wondering if these parts would work well and if the performance vs cost ratio is good. I wouldn't mind dropping the price down a bit.

Build link: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] er=9220286

Very strange... p45 motherboard will bottleneck you with crossfire but you get a 850 watts power supply. Either get x48 and a 750watts psu (or 850) or p45 and a 500-600 watts psu (no crossfire then). I will suggest you to upgrade to the 640gb version HDD as others will and maybe this ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145194 for lower latency.

The Antec EarthWatts 500 is on sale and will save you lots of money.
The P45 will likely really throttle XF, so a lesser PSU is fine.

Since you are looking to save, I am not suggesting a more expensive board such as an X38/X48.

this is the current choice for that price/screen

+1 to smaller power supply if not going to crossfire. and at that res you will not need to.

higher res and crossfire then would saw more power and x48 mobo but that is more $$

+1 to hdd 640gb it is only $5 more

ram option to save money:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231148

this ram g.skill cl 4 ddr2 800 will work just as well and will save you some $. corsair is pretty high priced. and for ddr2 800. the g.skill is pretty popular.

oh also. $90 keyboard. that is a cool key board but make sure you are going to use all the stuff it comes with. if not you can same some $ there.

that keyboard is ultra premium. but i guess you found the need for it. i wouldnt spend that kind of money on a keyboard.money is more important

Okay, change RAM/PSU/HDD.

As for the keyboard I used it at a friend's and found the extra buttons/LCD useful. That and I just really want it.

Thanks for the help!

I'm not really looking to save I just thought I may have selected stuff that was overpriced since I really don't know much about PC tech stuff. I'd really like to get a setup that I don't have to upgrade for a while and I have a budget of at most $2000.

Get RAM that will work at the JEDEC standard 1.8v. It may save some headaches, however minor. Mushkin has a lot of offerings that adhere to this standard.

i get you.

basically for 2k you have a lot of choices. but pretty much:

No crossfire would recommend the p45 and lower power supply

crossfire x48 and higher power supply. it is all about your plans.

as far as the ram. it is cheaper yes but it also functions the same. so whether you can afford the corsair or not i would sill recommend the g.skill.

considering your budget you may want to upgrade your monitor go with the x48 and better power supply and then take full advantage of the 4870 and crossfire when price comes down a little.

but by no means does that mean you have to spend the money just because you have it. i'm sure you would be very happy with the p45, one card, at that resolution.

If I decide to go with a better mobo for Crossfire will that increase the longevity of my PC? I'd rather spend $2000 now and not have to upgrade for four years than to spend less and have to switch out parts in a year or so.

you never know. yes in the sense that you can add another gpu down the road if games require it. but we don't really know what will come and how things will increase so nothing is perfect. i mean if you really want to not have to do anything you can get an x48 mobo and a 4870x2 and a beefier power supply and be set for quite some time. thing is that it is overkill right now and when you actually need that prices will be lower. so you can pay more now to not have to do anything for awhile or pay less now and be prepared to swap out a gpu or add a gpu at some point. i imagine your cpu, mobo and ram should last you a good amount of time. but you could spend the $$ on a quadcore if you really want to. again, don't need it now but in the next couple of years programs may take better advantage of mutiple cores and it might be useful to have. but of course when that point comes they will be much cheaper.

Okay, I get ya. I'll just stick with what I have now and worry about upgrading when I have to. I really appreciate the feedback.

One more question though; what resolution would dual GPUs benefit?

i really think you start to see some help in the 1920x1200 res and above. but quite honestly it is personal preference on if you need that. i know a lot of people that have compared that res to what you have and can't see a difference. that is why i highly recommend actually going and looking at monitors before buying. get reviews and recommendations but then look at them. because not all look the same to the same people. and if it doesn't look better then why spend hundreds on it and hundreds more on gpu that will play it on high.
the nice thing about the x48 is that you can play one. add another if you want or add a newer card later or two later. it does leave your options pretty open.

This is what I've come up with:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] er=9220286

I'm keeping the 500GB HDD since I can get a combo with the mobo making it a good deal cheaper than the 620GB.

Thanks for all the help and if no one sees any errors on what I've listed I'll be buying later tonight.