$1000-1200 Two Gaming Builds - PII 955 BE and i7 920

I've decided to take the leap into building my first computer. I'll be purchasing parts from newegg, zipzoomfly or any other reputable online retailer. My price range is up to $1200, but spending less money is always a good thing (I'm unfortunately not made of it).

The primary use of this computer will be gaming, web-surfing and some light video encoding (just iPhone videos mainly).

Also, please let me know if there are any 'hidden costs' or pieces I'm missing from the builds. I'm looking for advice of which build in general (I'm still split [60/40 in favor of Phenom] between the Phenom and i7) - and if there are any better parts in the general price range that would improve my system.

Thanks!

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ASAP
BUDGET RANGE: up to $1200

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, surfing, light encoding

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: monitor, keyboard, mouse, OS (using Windows 7 RC1)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Anything reputable with good prices

PARTS PREFERENCES: See builds below

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: In the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1650x1080 - possibly upgrading in the future

Phenom II 955 BE Build:

Case: Not selected (suggestions - I'd like to put some lights and stuff in it eventually) - can be a MAXIMUM of 21" tall, budgeted up to $100 for the case

CPU: AMD Phenom II 955 BE - $245 from the egg

Memory: OCZ Special Ops Urban Elite 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227324 (getting 2 of these for 8gb total - is that overkill?) - $137.98

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100269SR Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102830 - $209.99

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136284 - $94.99

MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128387 - $109.99

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] air%20750w - $99.99
Will this support crossfire of two 4890's in the future?

Drives: 2 LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136147 - $47.98

CPU cooling: Dark Knight - XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail - $41.99

Total System Cost: $1087.91


i7 920 Build:

Case: Not selected (suggestions - I'd like to put some lights and stuff in it eventually) - can be a MAXIMUM of 21" tall, budgeted up to $100 for the case

CPU: i7 920 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115202 - $279.99

Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] x6g1600c8d - $166

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100269SR Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102830 - $209.99

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136284 - $94.99

MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128375 - $184.99

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] air%20750w - $99.99
Will this support crossfire of two 4890's in the future?

Drives: 2 LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136147 - $47.98

CPU cooling: Dark Knight - XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail - $41.99

Total System Cost: $1221.92 - Just over my price range, but I can spend the extra $20.

Thanks, kubes - any comments on the rest of the build - and which one you would choose?

Also, should I get a different board to take advantage of DDR3?

I'm leaning towards this ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131366

I also don't want to mess around with having to flash the BIOS to get it to recognize the 955 (I'd have to get a compatible chip to boot the machine to flash anyways, right?). So my board must recognize the 955 out of the box since I don't have any spare CPUs lying around.

I'm guessing both builds would excel for my intended use, it's just been so long since I purchased a new rig (I'm running a Pentium 4 system and my Radeon 9800 broke and I figured it was time to join the 21st century).

I've read that the i7 is good for multimedia editing etc. and almost even with the Phenom in gaming (at least it comes down to the GPU as both are more than enough). So I'm hoping the system lasts 3-4 years or so, and maybe I'll toss in another 4890 in the future if I need to.

He would be spending at most fifty more dollars for the small increase in performance and potentially have more upgrades in the future. Just get a good am3 790GX motherboard, like this http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] e=10010088

More expensive at newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 790XT-UD4P

I cannot say this enough to people, always check http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Home.jsp and http://www.ewiz.com/ when buying from newegg, who can a lot of times be more expensive or not provide free shipping for the same products.