New budget gaming rig, need advice/opinions

[Luke]

^playing games dual monitor is way way over rated, it sucks, stick with gaming on one monitor.

 

[baron5]

well thats a matter of opinion, if he likes it its up to him, my understanding was he was building a gaming rig with dual or more monitors. if he is only using dual for non gaming purposes then just get a cheaper card.

 

[Luke]

^yeah, i guess it is, but have u ever tried to game with 2 monitors, fps's are unplayable as your aim is always between the monitors, so there is a gap...with three it might be ok, but to make it look good you would need at least 3 19" monitors, preferable 22", that is gonna cost a lot. So the question is, are u gonna be gaming on more then one of the monitors?

 

[MageLuingil]

No, I'll only be using the primary for gaming, the other monitors will be for general workstation use. Sorry for the confusion. And I think I've made up my mind to go with one 8800gt for now, and leave the possibility for another (cheap) card later if I need it. Won't bother with sli or Xfire

Puddle: Thanks for the board, I was looking into possible cheaper motherboards and that one looks good. (If anyone else knows of something better let me know)

 

[MageLuingil]

I think I may prefer this motherboard actually. It's not much cheaper than the p5q was, but I kinda like having the integrated firewire (even though it's not used that much anymore) and raid, which the Biostar was lacking.

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

 

[MageLuingil]

Well, I ordered the parts this morning, so they'll probably be en route tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions.