Advice for 1500ish build

[clove]

Hey everyone. I'm building a pc for the first time and this site has been really helpful already so thanks. Here we go.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily gaming.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1500-1600 before tax and shipping
3) Where do you live?
Hampton, VA (Langley AFB) I just got here, not sure if there's a Microcenter or Fry's nearby.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, motherboard, RAM, GPU, case, PSU, optical drive, SSD
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I've already purchased a Samsung F3 HDD.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Dell 2209WA - 22'', 1680x1050
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within two weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I would like Crossfire support.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
I'll be buying Windows 7 Home.

I put together this tentative build:
200 - Intel Core i5-750
190 - Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
110 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
310 - XFX 5850
90 - Cooler Master 922 HAF
110 - Corsair 750TX 750W
30 - Lite-On Black Optical Drive
200 - Intel X25-M 80GB

Total = 1240, well below my budget. Is that a good motherboard? Also, I just kind of threw the case in there. Please advise.

Now, my only fundamental problem with this build is the P55 motherboard. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the P55 bottleneck Crossfired video cards? I'd almost be willing to pay a few extra hundred dollars for an X58 board, i7 CPU, and the extra RAM so I could slap in another 5850 down the line.

On the other hand, I'd be getting basically the same gaming performance right now for a few extra hundred dollars, just for a Crossfirable upgrade path. What do you think?

 

[Shadowssong]

With money to spare I would say go the x58 path (i7 930 + Gigabyte X58A-UD3R). Just get the same G.skill set except the 3x2gb one. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

 

[SlithereenSlardar]

See the thread I posted...

You can pretty much be identical to mine.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1520216

 

[Dangman]

Now, my only fundamental problem with this build is the P55 motherboard. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the P55 bottleneck Crossfired video cards? I'd almost be willing to pay a few extra hundred dollars for an X58 board, i7 CPU, and the extra RAM so I could slap in another 5850 down the line.

On the other hand, I'd be getting basically the same gaming performance right now for a few extra hundred dollars, just for a Crossfirable upgrade path. What do you think?

With current video cards, the bottleneck is only 5% under the best case scenario. I highly doubt an extra 5% is worth the extra $150 or so for a Core i7 setup.

With that said, up to you if you want to spend the extra $150, You certainly have enough room in your budget to do so.