Question about PC upgrade to i7

[luke62092]

Hi, I'm going to be upgrading my rig very soon from:

CPU: Intel e5200 overclocked to 3.07 gHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45 UD3R
RAM: 4gb (2x2gb) Corsair XMS2
Video Card: HIS 4850 IceQ4 Turbo 512mb

I also have a Arctic Cooling Freezer Heatsink for my OC CPU

to:

CPU: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131404

RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

Video Card: another Sapphire 4850 512mb for CrossFireX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102824

So I have 2 major questions/concerns about this build:
1. Not so sure about the motherboard, are there any recommended LGA 1156 mobos with 2 PCIe x 16 ports (and possibly with USB 3.0 for relatively the same price)?
2. Can I run CrossFireX with different manufacturer 4850s?

 

[Silvune]

A quick look at newegg reveals that this is probably it: Open Box Asus P7P55D-E Pro $142 with $7.87 shipping. This is the list of all P55 boards with more than 1 PCI-E slots and USB3 ports http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=280&Description=&Type=&N=2010200280&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PropertyCodeValue=717%3A49184&PropertyCodeValue=4943%3A34967&PropertyCodeValue=4943%3A48038&PropertyCodeValue=4943%3A40640&PropertyCodeValue=4943%3A34966&PropertyCodeValue=4943%3A46138&PropertyCodeValue=8110%3A50511
Perhaps you could have a look at other e-tailers to see what else is available if you don't fancy that.
You should be able to run two different manufacturer cards in crossfire. Try and get a card that matches your first as closely as possible in terms of memory amount. Here's a thread about it: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245454-15-crossfire-faqs
I think you should consider something else for a CPU cooler, it might be better than the stock cooler but it's not as good as more modern coolers. The typical recommendation is the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus, altho according to a review on here I think that the Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B is a slightly better option.

 

[luke62092]

Thanks, that really helps.