4850 is perfect for your budget. I'll be getting one myself.

HD4850: june 25
HD4870: july 8

I'm a little disappointed by the idle power consumption of the 4850, i was hoping that it would be equal or close to 3870. And it runs very hot at idle. I think i'll wait for a version with non reference heatsink/fan.

HD4850 > GTX 260 in Grid, Bioshock, R6-Vegas, Oblivion with 4xAA.

Benchmarks from a french hardware site:

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/724-1/preview-ati-radeon-hd-4850.html

It beats the 9800gtx and 8800ultra in many cases. :)

I also bought some thermal paste, do I need it for the CPU/Fan or does the Freezer fan have some applied?

dayday6

It's pre-applied on the freezer and it's good thermal paste. I would have waited until june 25 but you got a very good price on those cards. And a 640 GB WD would have been better.

On the Anandtech forums:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2179958&FTVAR_STKEYWORDFRM=&STARTPAGE=62&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=290626

1- A switch doesn't affect speed.

2- You mean integrated gigabit adapter on your motherboard. Depends on the download speed you get from your ISP.

Logitech LX7, i love it. I got it for 20$ at future shop.

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12660ID2157&vpn=931395-0215&manufacture=LOGITECH