n00b building a gaming pc - help!

[architect md]

Hello there, this is my first post (in the proper forum lol!) so thanks for reading

As the title may suggest im planning to build my own gaming pc and my first on at that (first one ive ever bought for myself as well). I have a friend who is experienced in this and between us we have come up with the following specs:

AMD Phenom X4 9950 2.6GHz Black Edition
MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX
corsair 4GB (2x2GB) 1066mhz DDR2 ram
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 - hard drive - 250 GB x2
Sapphire RADEON HD 4870 512 MB - GDDR5 RAM
Arctic power 700W PSU
XION II Black (Blue LED) Steel Mid Tower Gaming Case
Samsung SyncMaster 2032BW - flat panel display - TFT - 20" (already purchased)
windows vista home premium 64bit

After doing some research i have a few possible changes but am unsure, i was thinkin of upgrading to the hd4870x2, i know i wont need it now at the res i will be playing but i may get a bigger screen later and i want the best i can get really. Also thinking about changing the processor to the intel Q6600 for better overclocking, again not really sure.

My ideal goal is to be able to play crysis with the ultra high mod smoothly but i know this is a big ask, would be happy with just on high settings. There is so much to think about and so many different views im starting to get a bit swamped so i thought i would put this out there and hope someone could help

Thanks!

 

[sisley_111]

Not sure but this CPU will bottleneck the HD4870X2. You will need to overclock it a lot to maximize your investment.

Also buy a good power supply like the Corsair 750 or something from a good brand Antec, Seasonic, PCP&C. Do not ditch on the power supply.
[ural]http://game.amd.com/us-en/amdgame_testedcomponents.aspx?p=3[/url]

For the hard drive, are going to do RAID. If not, take a WD 640Gig. Faster, bigger storage.

 

[architect md]

Thanks for the response

Definately thinking about overclocking, but not sure how well the amd will do this, hence the possible Q6600. How high do you think i should oc to reduce bottle necking the 4870 x2?

Good point about the power supply, will look into better quality

Finally not really sure what RAID is, im afraid thats a bit beyond my, sorry.

 

[zhuoyan]

In order to RAID, you'll need 2 identical HDDs.

Raid 0 for data recovery, raid 1 to boost performance, you choose

 

[architect md]

Thanks zhuoyan, will look into raid 1 then but most likely i will get a 500 or 640gb hdd and keep one for os and one for programs.

 

[architect md]

Thanks to everyone, unless i have missed the point (entirely possible) a better use of my money would be:

Intel core 2 quad Q6600 (poss oc'd)
Gigabyte DQ6 range p45
seagate barracuda hdd's one 250gb one 500gb both 7200.11
corsair TX750 psu
Antec 900 case
corsair 1066 ram - 2x2gb
radeon hd4078 512mb (possibly 4870 x2)
windows vista home premium 64bit

Looks like ive got a bit more reading up to do. (plus i think my friend whos going to build this is an AMD fan so he may take some convincing, lol)

any thoughts?