just built my core i5 with a radeon 4890 and want to test it out.
what are some games that will push it to the max or have excellent graphics?
preferable not FPS since i'm not a big fan of FPS.

Oblivion and Fallout 3 come to mind. These are both RPGs in the first-person perspective.

The most advanced graphics are almost always in FPS games. Try Crysis.

Dirt 2 coming up is the first game to use DirectX 11 and looks pretty.

After seeing Oblivion on everyone's best of the decade list, I decided to reinstall it. Then I installed some of the "must have" mods including a 1.7GB Texture Pack, realistic weather and water. The results are nothing less than astounding. I've been playing Dragon Age and while the RP aspect is second to none, graphically it falls far short of Oblivion.
I already completed the main quest when the game first came out, so now I'm playing it as a sandbox and do the smaller quests.


http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Must_Have_Mods

Landscape LOD Textures by shaja
Landscape LOD Textures (border regions) by shaja
LOD Normal Map Fix by BlueSteel
Qarl's Texture Pack III
Bananasplit Better Cities
Illumination within/without
Natural Enviroments
Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul
Natural Wildlife

*edit to add*

Crysis on Ultra High with the Natural Mod from the Crymod website.
Lord of the Rings Online for the enviroments.

I've heard nothing but positive reviews on Crysis so I second it.

It by the way uses the CryEngine2 and reviews of the newer CryEngine3 say it's 'medium' settings are equal to the "CryEngine2" higher settings.

so what games uses CryEngine3?

People still play games on their PCs? Does gamestop even carry them anymore? Seriously, though I plan to upgrade my PC when Diablo III comes out. The graphics on that game look really good so far.

I know you're joking but...

Do the new copies of PC games at everyone elses Gamestop look like they've been sat on and thrown down a flight of stairs then run over by a car? It reminded me of the opening scene from Ace Ventura when I looked at the new PC boxes last time I was there.

Back on topic, I would try Crysis and Far Cry 2.

PC games have always been ahead of consoles, on everything. Nowadays most people buy their games from Steam or some of the other downloadable services.

Some day console games will do the same.

i was going to wait till Starcraft II to come out before building a new one, but my computer died so i was pushed to do it earlier.

but yeah, i do most of my gaming on the 360 nowadays. but with a new computer i want to try it out. I read that DragonAge was better on the PC than on the consoles, so i bought the PC version.

You can always get the demo of Crysis to try out your new graphics.