Hey, I am about to make the plunge. That is, I'm purchasing a 48xx based system in the $1800 price range. I obviously want superb gaming performance, but I also want a very powerful well rounded computer. Which Build would you guys prefer?

4870 Build:

Motherboard: Gigabyte X48 DS4 (225)
Memory: 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 CAS 5 (96)
CPU: Q9450 (330)
GPU: 4870 (310)
Hard Drive(s): 2 x Western Digital 640GB (190)
Monitor: DELL E248WFP (350)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W (100)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred (88)
Cooling: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 + Mounting Bracket + Arctic Cooling MX2 (51)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203B (29)

Total: $1769

4850CF Build:

Motherboard: Gigabyte X48 DS4 (225)
Memory: 4GB Corsair XMS2 DHX DDR2 800 CAS 4 (80)
CPU: Q9450 (330)
GPU: 2 x 4850 (340)
Hard Drive(s): 2 x Western Digital 640GB (190)
Monitor: DELL E248WFP (350)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W (100)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred (88)
Cooling: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 + Mounting Bracket + Arctic Cooling MX2 (51)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203B (29)

Total: $1783

4870CF Build:

Motherboard: Gigabyte X48 DS4 (225)
Memory: 4GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 800 4-4-4-15 (57)
CPU: Q6600 (210)
GPU: 4870 x 2 (620)
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital 640GB (95)
Monitor: DELL E248WFP (350)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W (100)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred (88)
Cooling: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 + Mounting Bracket + Arctic Cooling MX2 (51)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203B (29)

Total: $1825

Well, what do you think. Is one of these builds the clear winner. Do some modifications need to me made. Or daresay, should I wait until the fabled GTX 280/260 Price cutz ZOMG. Well, tell me what you think

I think the 4850 CF build is the most well rounded build and will provide excellent gaming performance. For an extra $40, two 4850 stomp on the 4870.
I think the 4870 CF build is great, but you sacrifice 4gb RAM for 2gb. Hell, go for the 4870 CF build, just spend a little bit extra and get 4gb RAM instead. The Q6600 is still a great CPU.

The 4870 Build still has 4GB of ram, sorry, I forgot to include that.

well... graphically the 4850 CF build is the best... but if you just added an extra 80 onto the 4870 CF build it would be even better with the q9450... plus a lil' OC

Yeah, if you got the money you might as well go all out. Its only a little extra for the dual 4870's, and down the line you will be happy with the little bit of extra performance you have over dual 4850s. Or you could always go single 4870 and get a second later, when newer games come out that really start to tax a single GPU.

4870CF build with the CPU from build #1.

You don't need 1066 RAM so you can skip that.

YAY!!! I'm finally ordering everything!!! Ok, one last thing... MB, should I go for: Asus P5E Deluxe, Gigabyte DS4, Gigabyte DS4 Open Box, or Asus Rampage Formula Open Box, all X48 all from newegg? I need a really quick answer.

Oh and should I go with Sapphire 4870's or Visiontek 4870's?

Don't buy an open box motherboard. They come with no accessories like SATA cables, brackets, or anything.

The X48 Gigabyte boards is your original build is fine.

What about the 4870 brand? Sapphire and Visiontek is what's availiable. Oh, and I'm not going for the Q9450, sticking with the Q6600, is that going to be fine?

Q6600 is what I have. Great CPU but it runs warm due to 65nm process. You will be fine with the cooling solution you chose though. 9450 also has a cache advantage but this is not important for a gaming system.

Both are good brands for video cards. Go with the cheaper one (if one has free ship and the other does not) or w/e. I have a Sapphire 3870 and it performs great.

Well, If they perform the same, I will go with the Visiontek because according to people on this forum it has a lifetime warranty I'm thinking thats a great thing.

I'm actually ordering this stuff now!!! Yay, anyhow, couple of quick things.
1. Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling MX2
2. DELL E248WFP vs SAMSUNG 245BW vs Acer P243WAid vs whatever you think the best 24in is under 400ish???
3. The Samsung SH-S203B DVDRW is out of stock on newegg, where/what should I order it.

This is so exciting!!!! Finally, I can move up from my P4 and ATI 9600XT!!!!!

I found the SH-S203B on Zipzoomfly for $22, should I buy it there, or buy the SH-S223F on Newegg?

Paste: MX-2

DVD burner: Get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151154

Dell uses Samsung panels so they could be the same monitor. Pick the cheaper one but know that a $400 24" panel will have color correctness issues if this is important to you. (Photo Editing etc.)