Trying to decide between three systems, please help optimize.

Priority:
Gaming (Team Fortress 2, LFD2, Dragons Age, StarCraft 3)
Apps (Photoshop, dvd ripping / burning, video editing)

Coming from: Early 2006 iMac Core Duo 2.0 2 gigs of ram running Win 7.

I currently have 3 systems I'm considering.

Q9550 + GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 = $283 + tax.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

i7 920 + GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 = $468 + tax.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

AMD Phenom II 955BE + What ever Gigabyte board you all recommend. = $200 + tax.

I'll be buying the CPU from microcenter and the board from newegg.


I feel at this point I have done so much research I'm left with more questions than I started haha. But here goes.

Q9550 System:

Has there been any tests that show this chip over clocked + a high end new ATI 5850 or Nvidia 280 over clocked?

What video card do you recommend for this system?

I have two friends with i7 920 systems. Both are over clocked with similar hardware. One system has the in game stutter problem (sporadically), while the other system does not. How common is this?

What video card would you recommend for the 920? I was considering the 5850, is that overkill? Would it benefit from a dual card setup instead?

Phenom II 955

Are there any tests that show this chip over clocked with a new high end video card?

What video card would you recommend?

I'm not concerned with the politics in the industry, or the ability to future proof the system. If some new piece of technology comes out that is truly revolutionary I will sell off this system and start from scratch. But I feel confident that either of these systems will be sufficient for the next two years.

Are there any tests that show the i7 920 over clocked to be worth $300 more over the AMD system over clocked? My theory is anything under $100 dollars is not worth arguing about. But $300 is significant enough to warrant further inspection on my budget.

Thank you so much for your help,