Leaning toward an i5 750 build, help please!

**This is my first build, I'd like to overclock.

Hi all, on BF I thought I had purchased the parts for an i7 920 build I had been planning for over a month now. Unfotunately, my credit card company thought half my purchases that day were fraud, and rejected a number of them. Since I didn't realize it till a couple of days later, I lost out on the savings & rebates (around $200-300 when adding in the monitor) from Black Friday. Doh! Now I've reconsidered the i7, and am leaning toward building an i5 instead. These are the parts I succeeded in purchasing on Black Friday:

PSU - Corsair 650HX

Case - CM Storm Scout

OS - Win 7 64-bit

Optical - Lite-On DVD burner with Lightscribe

These orders went through, and I saved some decent coin. The Storm Scout was $49 in the end, and the PSU was something like $87 or so.

I was planning on the i7 at Microcenter for $199, but my combo order on the mobo and RAM was lost on BF. Since then people have recommended I go i5 since it's a lot cheaper, and I'm only a gamer. The i5 is $149 at Micro, but I'm unsure about what Mobo to buy. Moving from to an i5 build, from an i7, will be a couple of hundred cheaper. So my questions are:


1) What Motherboard should I buy?
-> I'd like the ability to crossfire, and/or SLI, since it would give my build some upgradability in the future. Adding a second GPU would extend the life of the parts/computer I'm building. If I'm reading things correctly, some ASUS boards support Crossfire, but not SLI, is this correct? If so then such a board would restrict me to purchasing Radeon cards right? Forgive my slight newbness, but asking stupid questions is the best way to get helpfull answers.

Most seem to point toward Gigabyte & ASUS mobo's, my question is which model.

2) What GPU do you recommend, with said Mobo you think I should buy in question 1?
->I was going to buy a single Radeon 5850 with my original 920 build. Those cards are hard to find, and more expensive than b4 @ $310+ apiece. Some have told me that I don't need the 5850 necessarily, and could simply go with a single 5770, with the ability to add a second 5770 down the road. Is this a good idea? Will the 5770 (x2 eventually) be good enough moving forward? It is D11 right?

It seems from the benchmark tests that two 5770's perform on par with a 5850. I mostly play shooters like BF2, Far Cry 2, etc. Will a single 5770 be able to run high setts on a 1920 x 1080 resolution monitor?

If there is a different GPU(s) I should consider, please let me know.
3) RAM?
-> This is important, but more straight forward than the above. All recommendations are appreciated. I'm going with 4GB for now.

Here are my recommendations..

1) ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

2) HIS H585F1GDG Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card ... - Retail ... I would go with the 5850, which will give you the ability to add a second one when games start to be maxed out by just one. Going with two 5770's equals close to one 5850 but doesn't leave you room to grow. If the budget is an issue, by all means you will be fine with a 5770.

3) G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - Retail

4) SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ... I didn't see a hard drive listed, so I added it.

5) COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long ... - Retail ... I didn't see a HSF listed, so I added it.

Tecmo34 has given you excellent advice. The ASUS motherboard he mentions is very good, and the Gigabyte equivalent is the P55-UD4P. Search for combo deals using either of these motherboards, and get whichever has the best deal that suits the rest of your build. They both sell for about $170. This just gives you a few more options to possible save some money.

Good luck with your build.

Wow, thanks a million fellas.

I'm going to see what's listed for combo's with the boards mentioned. I'll have to weigh the advantages & costs of going with a single GPU board for less, but going with a better 5850, versus going the Crossfire route, and a single 5770 with the ability to upgrade down the road. I'll post the direction I go in.

BTW, do those boards use the Foxconn pins? I've been reading that they burn out, should I be worried?

Another question I have is with respect ot GPU's. What's the difference between the manufacturers. For example, HIS versus Saphire or XFX, etc. I know X gives you a better warranty, but are there any other points to consider between makes?

Tecmo, which Mobo should I use if I go with a Radeon GPU? Be it a 5770, or a 5850?