New suggestions to a possible $1500 build

I was looking at the current setup on the upped the budget post.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] l-thoughts

A friend of mine suggested that i go with this setup for the mb, ram, and gpu instead of the one on the above post.

GIGABYTE GV-N28-1GH-B GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card (SLI is better for gaming than crossfire)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125200

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard (Memory can accept up to 1200mhz and FSBuss up to 1600mhz also heatpipes on the bridges)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128343

OCZ Reaper HPC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1150 (PC2 9200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227231

I see that the price for the motherboard is more and the video card is more, and that is less memory unless i doubled up. Other then that would these be a solid upgrade compared to the lower cost one on the above post. In other words would it be worth my while to do this newer setup or stick with the other. He also said that SLi is better for gaming.

thanks

LOL, your friend is a complete idiot, or works for nVidia. Let me count the ways:

1. GTX 280 overpriced
2. SLI is not better for gaming than Crossfire. Crossfire is the more efficient system. Also, SLI requires a SLI motherboard, which can be major trouble.
3. GA-EP45-DQ6 is overpriced and way overkill.
4. GA-EP45-DQ6 doesn't do SLI anyway. God, that friend of yours is truly stupid. He should at least not drag you down with him if he's really a friend.
5. I'm not sure but I think you can't even fit that card on that mobo because of some cooling pipes.
6. 4 GB of DDR2-800 will serve you much better than 2 GB of DDR-1150

This setup costs 510+45+117=$672 for GPU/RAM/MB, and beats his setup which costs 445+215+31=$691

Visiontek HD 4870 X2, $510
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814129114

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146731

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128358

Read this to see how 4GB of RAM helps compared to 2GB:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2 [...] y-better/5

Some benchmarks, comparing GTX 280 with HD 4870 X2. Look at the numbers for 1680x1050 in different games for example. The GTX 280 wins in Crysis but you won't notice a difference between 40 fps and 42 fps. The 4870 X2 wins big in the rest.

Oblivion, 82 fps for HD 4870 X2, 58 fps for GTX 280
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3372&p=7

Quake Wars, 153 (HD 4870 X2) vs 110 (GTX 280)
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3372&p=8

GRID, 98 vs 65
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3372&p=9

Age of Conan, 60 vs 37
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3372&p=5

Aevm has got some pretty good suggestions