Help Understanding My New Build

[Bubbaoy]

I fairly new to building computers and I'm going to start my first very soon.
here is what I'm going to put together.
Case- COOLER MASTER HAF 922
Processor-AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Quad-Core
Motherboard- ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD
Video Cards(2x)- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB
Ram- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3
Main & Backup Hard Drive(2x)- HITACHI 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA
Media Drive(2x)- LG Black 22X DVD+R
Power Supply- hec X-Power Pro 600W
Monitors(2x)- ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen 16:9 Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor

Here is my build. First off is it all compatible?
And secondly with my dual video cards i want to run crossfire and run dual monitors, but i only want to play games on 1 monitor and have like internet and other stuff on the other monitor is this possible and how?

BTW These can all be found on new egg

[jlreich]

but i only want to play games on 1 monitor and have like internet and other stuff on the other monitor is this possible and how?
Yes this is very possible. Just a matter of setting it up in the video cards control panel. However instead of going with two 5770's get a single better video card. The 5770 is not a bad card for the money but never start out Crossfire or SLI with two lower end or midrange cards, get the best single card you can get unless you can afford two high end cards. There is less setup hassle and issues. Plus there are still games that actually run worse in Crossfire/SLI mode than with one of the same cards running in dual mode. In a nutshell, a single high end card is almost always preferred over two lesser cards.

Everything is compatible but there are some minor points about the whole setup. But I am tired and will either get back with you tomorrow or someone else will pick up where I left off.

[Bubbaoy]

Alright thanks. Which video card do you sugguest because those together are around $310. Also I have to make sure they are hdmi And support dual monitors because that's what monitors I'm getting for more "crisp" graphics. And your sure that I can play dual graphics on one monitor while on the Internet on another, because that's my biggest worry about these but then again I'm new to crossfire technology. Thanks

[Bubbaoy]

So how is this?
EVGA 012-P3-1472-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130549

Is this good for starting out? Then later get a second for sli? And this is still compatible with my mobo right?

[Bubbaoy]

Also how are the ATI Radeon 5870's? Compared to the ones i listed above me?^

[jlreich]

I would go for a 5870 if for nothing else because the board you picked out only supports Crossfire and not SLI. Or pick another board. A single nVidia card will work just fine though if you are not set on dual cards. By the way, dual monitors are actually easier to get setup with a single card. Easy breezy. I will have to look into it but last I heard Crossfire does support dual monitors while SLI does not. You have to disable SLI in order to use dual monitors, which from what I understand is easily done through the control panel. That may have changed, I am not sure since I haven't looked into for some time.

Also if you stick with that board it has a hybrid Crossfire capable on-board GPU that will work with a single dedicated card to enhance video processing power. So if you like that board definitely go with an ATI card.

I have had dual x16 Crossfire board (both slots run at the full x16) for two years and have never used Crossfire. Even if you buy one card with the intentions of adding a second later usually by the time you are ready for a second card new and better and cheaper cards are out and your old card is obsolete. In my opinion multiple cards are only a real viable option if you have $1k to drop on two high end cards from the get go. Other than that the best single card you can afford is usually the best way to go and will give better overall performance with less hassle.

Another thing to mention is if you go dual cards you need at least a 750W high quality power supply.

What about your OS? You have a copy already, or you still need to buy? And what version? I recommend 7 64bit Home premium or Pro.

What is your overall budget? Seems you are willing to drop some cash on dual card and monitors but are kind of skimping on the motherboard and power supply (the two most important components). How about something like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131645) or this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655) with SATA 6G and USB3? And this power supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005) or the 750W version (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006). I would never get the one you picked out. I would much rather see you stick with one monitor to get better core components now and you can always add another monitor later. Once you build with a board you are pretty much stuck with it and it's capabilities. ;)

[Bubbaoy]

My Budget is around $1300, Im trying to stay under and also im searching ebay for the ati 5870 because the bidding is around 250 now but it will surely rise. If you could find any other things that could save me money but would be better or change things that would be great. BTW i have a copy of windows 7 64 bit home Premium. Thanks