Thanks guys, you're both a major help! Probably for the best I haven't been paid yet and had time to keep asking questions, otherwise I would have just jumped right in and bought something XD I'll be back again if I need anything (Y)
Alright so I crunched some more numbers and decided I could probably pay a little more for this thing, so let me know what you think?
CPU: Intel i5 750
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7
GPU: XFX HD 587X (5870)
PSU: Corsair 650TX (it's on sale at new-egg right now)
RAM: 4GB Corsair XMS3 1600MHz
HDD: WD Cavier Black AAEX 640GB Sata III
Optical: Sony Optiarc 24x DVD/CD
Case: Coolermaster RC 690
That brings me to about $1 500 at newegg and gets me some very decent stuff :P, monitor will come later, along with CPU cooler and prolly some case mods down the road (Y)
I would only consider the UD7 if you were to looking for the top-end LGA1156 mobo or will Crossfire, otherwise its overkill and theres no need. Save on that and get a UD3 or UD4 tops. The main difference between the three boards is the UD7 supports both Nvidia NF200 and PEX 8608 PCI-E bridge controllers. This means that it is not limited by the platforms PCI-E configuration and supports 'three-way Crossfire' features not normally supported on the socket 1156 platform.
Also theres no point with SATA 3 unless its SSD. Think of it as a speed limit. Just because the sign says 300mph, that doesnt mean you can do it! SATA 3 will not be any faster then SATA 2 on a HDD, they can not physically spin that fast. At the moment theres not one single HDD can even fill SATA 2 (3GB/s) bandwidth. Get a WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA II @ 7200 rpm.
I agree, the P55A-UD7 is total overkill, I'd consider that I went for a higher end build than the one here and I only chose the P55A-UD4.
You also don't need the S-ATA3 drive, S-ATA3 on mechanical drives is a bit of a con, it doesn't achieve anything. For the same price as the 750GB S-ATA3 drive, you can probably get a WD1001FALS.
As kg says, the only thing that sets the P55A-UD7 apart from other high end P55 boards is the use of PCI express boosters that provide extra bandwidth. We've already shown what a negligible effect that has in crossfire, and it of course has no benefit at all with the use of a single card.
The same issue about 8x stands for 4x. Even with 4x bandwidth a card only drops performance by 5%, making the use of an extra card beyond two still perfectly viable, even without bandwidth boosters. The best way to do triple graphics seems to be to use a dual card and a single card, for example, a 5970 and a 5850 alongside. I'm hoping to combine an HD5970 4GB LE with an HD5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card at some point.
If $75 is almost $100, fair enough.
The 212 plus is very weak for how much it costs. You're better off with a Xigmatek S983 if you're willing to spend only $35.
If you can spend $50, then get the Noctua NH-U9.
