Please help me with my first gaming build $1500-2000

This is my first time build and need the TH gurus to give me some advice.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week

BUDGET RANGE: US$2000

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (COD4/5, Starcraft 2, Crysis), movies, programming, office...

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: speakers, mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Tigerdirect or Amazon (seems like two of the few that will accept foreign funds)

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel i7

OVERCLOCKING: Probably CPU, Maybe RAM/GPU

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: If necessary

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 24"

This is sort of what I was looking at, but will change parts for either more performance or less money.

CPU: Core i7 $280
Cooler: Cooler Master V8 $60
Thermal Paste: Artic Silver 5 $7
MB: Asus P6T Deluxe V2 $310
RAM: OCZ Platinum 3x2GB 1600Mhz $95
Case: CM 690 $90
PSU: Corsair 850TX $150
GPU: Saphire HD4870x2 2GB $420
HDD: WD 6401aals $75
DVD: HP DVD burner $25
Monitor: Samsung 2433BW 24" $350
Keyboard: Logitech G11 $60
OS: Vista 64 $125

I have a few questions:

1) MB: I'm debating whether to go with the P6T or the Deluxe V2.
If going crossfire/SLI would I need a special bridge with the extra spacing (4 PCIe slots)
Is the 16+2 phase power, better sound card & cooling worth the extra money?

2) Graphics card.
Definately am going to play COD4/5 and starcraft 2, but also interested in Crysis, Hawx (with CPU) and whatever else I get my hands on. I am aiming to get lots of eye candy at 1920x1200 and willing to spend up to $500 to get it, but less is preferable. Wondering whether to get the
HD4870x2 straight away (~$420)
a GTX285 with either another one or newcard in ~2 years (can get an XFX with FarCry2 for 350)
an HD4890 with another one in a year (or maybe right away) for $250 each.
or SLI GTX275's

The free game is tempting as well as the Ambient Occlusion feature of the GTX, but if ATI has better performance/cost then ATI it is (also for SC2).

3)Wireless card
Anyone know any good wireless cards which are compatible with Vista 64-bit. If I get a wireless card I might just go with the P6T (non-deluxe) since I need the PCI slot (leaving CF/SLI options open). Alternative to wireless would be a 75 foot patch cable (which might be pushing it for signal strength etc??)

4) Also looking at the Samsung T240 Touch of Color as the monitor.

Thanks for any help/opinions offered.

I'm using the p6t deluxe v2 and it's a great choice. Don't believe all the forums unless your sure that the profile stating that their experience is expert is true.You can go so many way's but seeing how right out of the gate your willing to spend the money needed and your first choices are great. The cool master v8 might be a problem if your going to do a lot of gaming, it's a good cpu cooler but it might be to big in your case and limit your air flow creating to much heat. Take a look at this one (CoolIT SYSTEMS Domino A.L.C Advanced Liquid Cooling) if your not hip to liquid cooling , good this one is for you. Totally maintenance free and self contained and best of all cheap!!! It takes up the back of your case were the rear fan would go but makes up for it in breathing room around cpu and gpu! Think about it .Peace out!!!!

If you want to get 2 graphics cards, then go with the V2, the better spacing of the slots will make for cooler temperatures and allow you to overclock the GPU's. The MB comes with the appropriate length SLI bridge, so you don't have to buy one separately. I would go with the GTX 275, that anandtech article is the only one I have seen that actually places the 4890 above the GTX 275, all others I have seen put the GTX 275 on top. The GTX 275 is overclockable as well, and will also beat a stock GTX 285 when overclocked. The 4870 would probably be fine for your resolution, but that GPU is not overclockable (maybe like 20mhz, but that is nothing).

Hmmm . . .

Overclockersclub.com
Xbit Labs (Doesn't compare with the GTX 275, but in many cases the 4890 stock performs better than a stock GTX 285)
Extremetech.com

I just Googled 4890 review and these were the first three I pulled up, showing the 4890 defeating the GTX 275.

OnTomshardware.com the GTX 275 is ahead of the 4890 without AA and AF, but with AA and AF on the 4890 pulls ahead

Lol I agree. Sorry, the AMD fanboy in me wouldn't give up without a fight

1) The motherboards P6T/Deluxe V2 are pretty much the same. The Deluxe has minor tweaks you probably won't notice.

2) If i had the stash, i would get x2 GTX275's together...or x2 4770's (cheaper) for great performance. A single GTX285 will do too...and anything beyond like the GTX295 is kind of a waste of money...for now until the get cheap.

3) I can't comment on wireless...i don't bother with that.

4) I have a Asus 22" 1920x1080 2ms HDMI/DVI/VGA input monitor with HDCP. Its was worth $180 when i got it...think its still the same price...but it performs flawlessly. There is some bleeding and black levels are high, but the color is supreme!

I'm assuming he doesnt want an AMD build. ^^;

I know this because I have an E.S. 950 I'm running in My system (unlocked) and it's so fast I can't believe it. Have some temp. problems to work out but watercooler is on the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They'll beat the i7 because games are predominately GPU dependent, and when they "beat" the i7 its only by a few FPS which isn't noticeable. I agree than an i7 is overkill if you are just wanting a gaming rig set up, and the money you'll save by using an AMD system can be used to get a better GPU or dual GPU solution.

Even though I'm an AMD fan, I agree that the i7 however is typically faster in multi-tasking, video editing, or anything really CPU dependant etc.

I always recommend AMD PII builds first for midrange gaming builds, but I think at 2K budget, he can splurge a little for the i7 setup.

@Helloworld_98 no way you could OC 3 4890's to 1ghz unless you had an extreme water cooling setup. The heat generated by those things would be intense, even having two cards vs just 1 can make about a 10 degree difference in temperatures. Overclocking and adding in a third card to the mix wouldn't be feasible without watercooling and a really good radiator and pump.

Besides, there is no point in getting 3 4890's unless you have a 30" monitor, 2 4890's will max out a 19x12 res monitor in every game.

They use an aftermarket cooler on them, which helps dissipate the heat, but doesn't do anything about the heat that is generated. Stick three of those together in a case and you will have overheating issues.

If he was running a 30" monitor at 25x16 res and needed to buy beastly GPU's to make it work. That is the only reason I can think of.

While I got the overclocking wiz kids on this forum I just put together a new system asus deluxe p6t v2, ES core i7 950,Corsair 750 watt psu, water cooling, MSI 4830 x 2(crossfire) Zalman northbrige fan and heatsink(mobo running hot) and I'm new to the i7 overclocking. I started small and got the cpu @ 3.2gig and it's running 39c and the mobo 40c, are these good temps for this speed? If anybody has a similar setup please share voltage and freq. settings. THANKS!!!!!

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 266-8.html Benchmarks.

on Crysis still the most GPU taxing game ever. There are plenty of other benchmarks on that posting too.

Agreed.

Apart from the techpowerup review (posted by JTP709), which has 4890 CF, I can't find anything else with 4890 CF or anything with 275 SLI. I might be missing it.
Would prefer to see how they performed before spending money on it if possible

This TH benchmark (link) makes me wonder if a single 285 would be enough. 35.9FPS on Crysis at high with 4xAA sounds good if it's minimum rather than average.

hi noobie1

for your monitor, i recommend Asus Mk241H. Right now its only 230 after MIR at newegg, has the same resolution as t240HD and the color is good too. some said it had problems with its webcam, but since you are looking for a monitor, i think this is a perfect choice. you can always buy webcam separately if you really need one.(T240HD also dont have webcam)

for Graphics, single GTX 285 is enough. that should secure you for the rest of the year. As the time flies, the price will go down and you could buy another one if you think you need it. but for me better get a whole new card with a whole new technology rather than go SLI. There is rumors GT300 will be launched next year.

@ mansalim
the sammy T240HD also has a build in HDTV tuner and the Asus doesnt which is why I'm thinking about gettin me a t240hd as well.

Samsungs are nice, but if you can afford (and find it) Try getting a Westing house, they're industrial. ^-^

Are you serious? Westinghouse? I had a westinghouse LCD TV that after two weeks the picture turned green. I sent it back and the replacement lasted for about 1 month, it turned a weird redish color, and had about 6 pixels that would get stuck periodically. Maybe they put more quality control into their Monitors, but its a pretty darn close to identical technology as TV's...I will never buy a Westinghouse product again.

That Asus is 1920x1080 not 1920x1200 and I can't purchase thru newegg (it's no longer available on tigerdirect). I don't want to be too thrifty with the monitor since it needs to last a long time(6+years). Dells are too expensive, so I figured samsung was high quality for less.

If I can get the PSU to last 6 years thats great. Originally went with that one in case I went SLI 285, and for presumably better "quality" (for lack of a better word) over the 750TX.

My roommate and my brother both have westinghouse LCD monitors and they're great. But i concure on the poor quality of the TVs. I used to work at Best Buy and our store brand insignias and dynexs were better quality than westinghouse IMO

I say he should get it , its got similar specs to my Westinghouse , some higher some lower. It looks awesome to me.

Well you still made an awesome disicion. ^-^