i5 system this month with a few questions

[manbearpig]

Greetings folks. I thought I had a good grasp on what I need to build a new PC but after some research I'm more confused than ever. Hopefully you all can set me straight. Thanks.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Gaming, office some photo editing but nothing heavy - daily use

2. What YOUR budget is.
$1100

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Canada - Vancouver NCIX, Best Direct, Direct Canada

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
None

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Probably go all new - I have a Thermaltake Tsunami case but figure I'd just throw together a whole new rig. See my sig I think it will be easier passing that machine onto a relative.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I've done a good amount of research so I'll keep this simple.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Probably not.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
December - watching sales etc and looking for deals.

I am running a 20inch 1680x1050 monitor

Things I'm 98% on:
i5 750
cheapest DVD-RW drive at the time
640G WD Caviar Black
I'll pick a case based on price at the time. Anywhere from Gamma, Scout to HOF got a pretty decent grasp on what is good.
*OK I say 98% in case there's some crazy deal on an AMD PII X4 965 and board.

Things that really confuse me:
Video Card - Thinking 5770 with potential to Crossfire if I ever need more power -
so with that said what mobo?
Something in the $140-$170 range would be nice, any of these? Do they have the adequate PCI slots?
MSI P55-GD65
NCIX.com - Buy MSI P55-GD65 ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 3PCI-E16 CrossFire SLI 2PCI-E1 PCI-E4 2PCI eSATA GBLAN Motherboard - P55-GD65 In Canada.
ASUS P7P55D
NCIX.com - Buy ASUS P7P55D LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI 7SATA CrossFire GBLAN 8CHANNEL Audio Motherboard - P7P55D In Canada.
GIGABYTE P55M-UD4
NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte P55M-UD4 mATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 1PCI-E4 1PCI GLAN CrossFireX SLI Motherboard - GA-P55M-UD4 In Canada.
*Would a 4890 last me many more years and be that much better a power increase?

POWER:
NCIX has had supplies like this on for $80-90 are they enough if I want to crossfire one day? Or stick to the Corsairs like X750W etc?
NCIX.com - Buy Antec Earthwatts 750W Modular Power Supply ATX12V V2.2 EPS12V Active PFC 80PLUS 135MM Fan - EA750 In Canada.

MEMORY: 4 gigs of something around $100
I hear Ripjaws around hear all the time. These ones?
Newegg.ca - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Desktop Memory

Thanks

[Helix]

Looks like a solid start.

In regards to the motherboard, if you're looking to Crossfire the Asus is straight out. The PCIe slots operate at X16/X4. When using multi-GPU's on a P55 motherboard, you need one that splits the lanes to be X8/X8.

The Gigabyte board and the MSI do not suffer from the same problem.

[Fudd Rucker]

Im currently RMAing an Asus P7P55D and to replace it im using the GA -P55M -UD4 and the gigabyte board is hands down better board in my opinion.

[MarkOne]

if you give me choice only betwen those 3 one I will say the MSI, like Helix said the Asus is 16/4 and the giga is a mATX

[MonsterSound]

You might consider the G.SKILL F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH Ripjaws PC3-10666 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL7-7-7-21 Core I5 1.65V Memory Kit. I am using it and just setting XMProfile in the BIOS gets you 7,7,7,21 at 1600mhz fully stable. I haven't had time to play with it much but I have read others are getting over 2000 with decent timmings (if you are so inclined).

[martin_metal_88]

Drop the P55M and pay 10$ more for the P55-UD4P??? this board will blow all other out. If you want to OC drop the ripjaws and get something better. Ho and 5770 will be fine:) and these card wont be bottlenecked by a 8X/8X PCI-e.

[MarkOne]

+1 with Martin for the ud4P

[martin_metal_88]

Originally Posted by MarkOne

+1 with Martin for the ud4P

I was sure that mark would come back and aprove:)

[manbearpig]

So how much power do I need. I know different brands/watt-ages are better than others.

Also would a GTX 285 be worth it for $269 new?

[ayah]

The Corsair TX750 would probably be a good buy for you. More than enough power at a relatively low price.