Critique my PC Build

Hey guys, just joined and was about to build a decent CPU that would possibly put me in between high end - bleeding edge power in terms of gaming.

Basically here is the list of what I am wanting to put together, perhaps some of you guys can give me some insight on maybe this or that piece should be changed/why, or if its a good build.

Graphics:
Nvidia GTX 280

Motherboard:
nForce 790i SLI Motherboard

Processor:
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q9450

Cooling and Power:
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon 775/K8 Cooler
Thermaltake Toughpower 750W Modular Power Supply

Ram:
4GB DDR2 PC6400 TWINX MEMORY / CORSAIR x 2


With this build I have priced it at 1600 dollars, I plan on putting it all together in August so perhaps some of the prices may go down 5 percent or so. Also I would be purchasing Vista for DirectX 10, I already have a decent 500GB hard drive so I would be swapping that in, along with the dvd rw drive that I have.

Thanks guys

For the vidoe cards l say fuck them. Why you may ask?

They suck compared to the newer cards

are the newest ones out that much better?

after looking at the GTX280 i think I am going to get that instead

A few things to consider that could really save you $...
2x 4870 will give you better performance for less than the GTX280
as far as i know The 790i only supports DDR3 which is very much more expensive and to ME the gains aren't worth the $$, also with that board.. do you really need 3x 16x PCIe, are you ever going to put 3 graphcis cards in, I don't see how you could ever afford 3x GTX280,

I very much like your CPU choice, I'd be getting that one too if I could afford it. I would, if i were you, build your system around that.

If you're interested in going with the suggestions I set-out for you, I would look into the Intel X38 or X48 chipsets. I am pretty sure there are versions of these that support both DDR2 and DDR3, so that if you wanted to make the jump to DDR3 later when it's cheaper or you wanted the extra performance you could.
I have also heard better things about these chipsets over nVidias 700 series, unless you have the $ to throw around it's not particularly smart (in my opinion) to adopt the newest hardware right away.
The INTEL boards aren't compatible with SLI, only crossfire, which would work if you wanted to take teh 4870/4850 route, You could still go with just one GTX280, but then why would you pay for a board with 2 slots you'll never use..

I was debating to do that route instead but I have been hearing that a lot of games do not support the SLI/Crossfire option so I would only be running 1 card on older games..I could be wrong.

I would very much like to go with the crossfire choice but I would rather pay the extra to have the power of 1 card that performs just as well as two video cards hooked up by sli or crossfire.

I guess I have some more options to consider thanks!

This is true, some games do not support crossfire or SLI, but the same is true for games/programs and quad core. However I'm guessing you're not buying your computer for now, you will be using it for at LEAST a year. I predict that in a year, almost all new games will utilize crossfire/SLI, which a lot already do. And also more programs will utilize all 4 cores of your processor. I usually think about the future when I think about a new computer, I believe it is stupid not to do so, since the components you buy will be worth significantly less in just 6 months time, let alone 2 years in the future.

any recommendations for 3780, i found a diamond one for 219.99 and i would buy two of them obviously or i found a local place that has an ATI 3780x2 for 419.99

the brands i am unsure of..does it make a difference?