Yes.... sadly, I still haven't purchased due to various delays and out of stock items. However, I am somewhat happy of this due to the fact that I've been looking over the performance comparisons between 4850 CF and 4870 CF. Looks to me like 4850 CF would be the way to go!!! Look at these two builds and tell me what you think please!

4870 CF Build

Motherboard: Gigabyte X48 (225)
Memory: OCZ Reaper 4GB DDR2 800 4-4-4-15 (57)
CPU: Q6600 (200)
GPU: 2 x 4870 (600)
Hard Drive: Western Digital 640GB (95)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W (100)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred (88)
Cooling: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 + Mounting Bracket + Arctic Cooling MX2 (51)
Optical: Samsung SH-S203B (29)
Monitor: DELL ULTRASHARP 2408WFP (350)

Total: $1793


vs......

4850 CF Build

Motherboard: Gigabyte X48 (225)
Memory: 4GB Corsair XMS2 DHX DDR2800 4-4-4-12 (80)
CPU: Q9450 (330)
GPU: 4850 x 2 (340) whichever of the brands on newegg is best
Hard Drives: Western Digital 640GB x 2 (190)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W (100)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred (88)
Cooling: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 + Mounting Bracket + Arctic Cooling MX2 (51)
Optical: Samsung SH-S203B (29)
Monitor: DELL ULTRASHARP 2408WFP (350)

Total: $1783

Which one would you guys pick. And what do you think, other than "GET OFF THIS DAMN FORUM ALREADY AND BUY YOUR **** DARKMATTER", lol... I know and agree.

I know about the price performance ratio, what I'm worried about is the scaling capabilities of crossfire using two 4850s. I know that crossfire 4870s would be no problem because whether the game supports scaling or not a single 4870 could handle it, however, a single 4850 might not give me top performance. However, looking at Legit Reviews the pure benchmarks of the 4870 CF vs 4850 CF are astounding. The 4850 CF almost matches the 4870 CF in almost everything game, especially at the 1920 resolution that I'm aiming for, which at almost half the cost of the 4870 seems like the easy choice. This leaves me room for the Q9450 (Which I do prefer over the Q9300 unless someone has a very strong argument otherwise) and more hard drive space, which I could use since I'm going to Quakecon (Awesomeness). So, I guess, is there a reason why no one recommended CF 4850s to me but instead jumped straight from 4870 to 4870 CF? If so please tell me? From what I've read, 4850CF is an insanely better deal than anything else with superb performance (quite a bit over a single GTX 280), am I right or am I missing something?

Well i'm having the same dilema as you. I can smell you're building a gaming rig . My conclusion in the end :

Q6600 G0 @ 3.6Ghz (9450 rly doesn't justify the extra ~150$, harder to OC, cache difference is almost insignificant)
Xigmatek S1283 +AS5 or your preffered thermal paste
4 GB Ram (whatever you like, i picked A-Data Extreme 800 mhz 4-4-4-12, these will also run 1:1 with my cpu)
Antec 900/1200 (after a bit of research i decided to stick to the 900 version)
Corsair TX 650W or PC P&C 750W (depending on what you stick to : 4850 cf or 4870 cf)
GA-X48-DS4
HDD WD6400AAKS
......
HD 4870.... and around christmas i'll sell mine and buy a 4870x2 OR buy 1 more 4870 and CF them.

1st reason is that 4850 has some issues, 1 being drivers not compatible to some games :for example GRID.
2nd reason is that they don't pump the heat they cause out of the case, which is bad for me at least, since i plan to OC and that means keeping temps as low as possible.
3rd reason is that right now there's not alot of ppl having these cards, not enough reviews, not enough testing in real world, so i'll play safe and stick to 4870 till things clear out. There's even a thread on this forum with a guy who has some issues in crysis and some other games with the 4850 (fps stuttering and others)
4th reason is that the 4870's will most likely go down price speaking when the 4870x2 will show up. And if that won't be the reason, the price cut down nvidia will use on gtx 2xx series sure will
5th reason is that CF has the bad habit of sometimes not scaling at all. When it does, it can actually go 100% in some games as i've seen in some reviews, but sometimes it won't scale at all, and having a 4870 is a safe bet u'll enjoy the game
6th and last reason is that soon enough we'll start seeing factory oc'ed 4850/4870's, meaning later i could CF 2 oc'ed 4870's getting every drop of performance available from these cards

Anyway i hope this helped you somehow, i'm still trying to convince myself too . Been 3 weeks now since i'm "planning" my rig, and new things show up every day...

Looks good if you get rid of the Gigabyte MB.

VENOM, everyone on here seems to recommend that motherboard. What is wrong with it, and which X38/X48 MB would you recommend instead?

I personally dont' like gigabyte boards as much (maybe cause i am a Asus fanboy) They do make good boards but Asus have never failed me so i stick with them. You can get rampage formula or even just Maximus formula if you are using ddr2. both are excellent boards for OC and performance wise. Not sure about prices where oyu live but i've seen them for around 220-230 before.

And I agree, i would get 4870 CF, thats teh safest bet. Even in single card config 4850 sometimes match or maybe even beat 4870 by a tiny bit, but in higher resolutions 4870 would be a safe bet and it vents the hot air out of the case. ventilation can be a big problem for some people. As for cpu, i would also go with q6600, just bought one myself. Its so easy to OC, some people have went 3.8ghz on air prime stable.

Would you guys put an Asus P5E Deluxe above that Gigabyte. Is that the best choice?

give me the model number of your gigabyte motherboard just to make sure. P5E deluxe is nearly on par with rampage, just that it doesn't have as much overclocking features. If you don't care about OC that much then P5E deluxe will do you good (besides, the OC potiential of the 2 boards aren't that far apart). if its the DQ6 then gigabyte might be better. DS4 or 5, Asus might be better then those. Go around and find reviews, i don't know absolutely everything about these motherboards. But either way, you can't go wrong with any of these boards.

It's the Gigabyte DS4 that I'm looking at. I'm in the 210-230 price range for an X38/X48 MB. Anything better? Oh, and yes, I'll be overclocking the Q6600 to 3GHZ at the least, probably 3.2 - 3.4. Which MB would be best?

Both are good, they are at about the same level. There are a few little features that might help you decide. Gigabyte might have 12 phase for cpu but Asus still have 8 phase + supreme FX II + 90 degree sata ports. gigabyte have dual gigabit lan ports but i doubt you are going to use that, same goes for all the eSata ports on the back. I would go with Asus seeing that it is one of its higher offerings for the x48 line up. where do you live? US?