time to upgrade,yay!

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Wow, new pc from scratch George? Sure!
Top of the line PC@under $800.I think its completely doable..



I'ma gonna REVAMP my list and give thought to a ground up build, @ 800 cost zone. Check back later for more suggestions!

[foq]

You're going to need a better power supply if you're going to be running a high-end card like the 5970, or running two lesser cards togeather.

You've got a slew of problems with the motherboard.
1. It looks like you're trying to use 3 sticks of ram, but your board only has 2 ram slots.
2. It looks like you want to use 2 video cards, but your board only has one PCI-E x16 slot.
3. You want to use an AM3 processor, but you have an AM2 board. I know your motherboard description says AM2/AM2+/AM3, but it's really a native AM2 socket with shoddy support for AM2+/AM3 processors through some crappy BIOS update. I'm speaking from experiance: I ran a Phenom 9500 (an AM2+ processor) on a DFI LanParty UT 590SLI M2R/G board (a very high-end AM2 board for it's time). When I got the cpu in the mail, I flashed the updated BIOS with AM2+ support before I replaced my Athlon64 x2 5200+ with it. Sure, it worked, but the BIOS wouldn't do what I told it to do... I tried raising the FSB, but when I opened CPU-Z to check it, it was still stuck at 200. I tried raising it even more, and nothing. So I tried lowering it all the way down to 100 to see what would happen, and according to CPU-Z, I actually overclocked it by lowering the FSB... it reported something like 216, I don't remember exactly what it was.

Basically, you want a new processor/motherboard/ram/video card/power supply for under $800, no? Here's my suggestion... 5850, better power supply, and 4GB DDR3 1600. The power supply only has 2x pci-e though, and the 5850 will use both of them to power it, but once you 'wake up and smell the roses' coming from that 8500gt, you probably won't even want xfire anymore. It's a pain in the ass anyway, it's better to run one badass card rather than two 'meh, it's okay' cards IMO.

Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

[Patton]

I've ran a 5750 a 4870 a 4850 a 4650 and currently running a 4670. With my experience I always top out FPS around 590 before I lag completely out. Everyone of these cards easily reach 590 FPS in quake for me. That being the only game i play I sold both the 48xx's returned the 5750 and currently use the 4670. So W/E.

Change your PSU before you invest broseph.