need advice on a computer build...

[PoweredByV8]

Alright, I've been researching for the last few eeks and I've come up with the following parts:

Athlon 3700+ San Diego
Asus A8N Deluxe SLI motherboard
Corsair XMS Memory DDR400 (2 x 512mb) 2-3-3-6

Question 1:
I get ATI discounts from work, so I was thinking about getting two ATI X700 pci express video cards. Would I have any problems running ATI cards with an nforce4 Northbridge? If not, would I gain a lot more performance with 2 ATI X800's?

Question 2:
What power supply should I go with and do I need a 24pin?

Thanks

 

[Chosonman]

Athlon 3700+ Sand Diego
I'd envy you if you got this processor. But you could do just as well with a Newcastle, Winchester, or Venice for less. And I would still envy you.

Asus A8N Deluxe SLI motherboard
You can't run 2 ATI in a NVidia SLI board! Plus you should wait till the next gen graphics cards come out. They'll be faster than 2 6800Ultra SLI. Big big waste of money.

Corsair XMS Memory DDR400 (2 x 512mb) 2-3-3-6
Waste of money. There's very little cost/performnace gain from getting those over $78.00 Corsair Value RAM.

 

[RussianSensation]

Might want to consider cheaper A64 3200+ Venice core.

Question 1: Cant use ATI cards in SLi period. Scrap SLI altogether even for NVidia.
Get X800xt, x800xt pe, x850xt or x850xt pe (depending on what discount you have).

Question 2: Get Enermax 495 or 565 PSU on newegg. Even if you dont have SLI they'll provide serious firepower for future Geforce 7/R520, and dual-core cpu upgrades as well as the upcoming creative soundcard. Since you probably wont upgrade the PSU often, it's a good 1 time investment to make.

Did you check out Patriot LLK PC3200 series 2-3-2-5? They might be cheaper than the corsair you have. Your other option would be to go with DFI lanparty ultra 4 mobo and get some Twinmos or Gskill value ram that will overclock to 240-250fsb 2-2-2-5 timings at 3.4V. Otherwise, MSI Diamond board is excellent too. Asus is not that great of an overclocking board.

 

[Chosonman]

How can I get an ATI discount too? =)

 

[knothead34]

run a ati card for now. wait until the new nvidia cards are out then get one of those however only the high end model will be sli capebale at least thats what ive read so far.

 

[NuroMancer]

Why can't he run 2 x700's Chosonman? The A8N deluxe has 2 x16 pci-e slots that can both support a video card, and they don't have to be the same. While I don't see the point unless he's running more then 2 moniters, it's still possible. But yes, ATI cards do not go SLI
------------------------
You get a ati discount by working for a retailer that sells ATI video cards they have a EPP.
------------------------
Personally, I think the memory isn't a bad choice.
------------------------
Do you plan on overclocking??
------------------------
The power supply that I went with is an antec neo 480 which is a 24 pin. If you check the forums, their is the end all of the debate over whether u need a 24pin or not, It's sticked to the top of one of em.
------------------------

EDIT: ha the article on 24 pin is at the top of this forum.
If you get the A8N-SLI Deluxe like me make sure that the northbrige fan is the new one, the old one spins at 8k rpm and gets louder and louder. (also see the forum article)
------------------------
On a side note the Asus board oc's ok, it's not the best of the ocers but its by no means bad, If your just doing a small oc it's np, If you wanna push it to the max, DFI is a great board.

 

[PoweredByV8]

Are you guys suggesting to go with just AGP for now? What's this new big thing coming out for video cards?

NuroMancer: Isn't there an advantage to using pci express with two cards over one because of the ability to use both cards to render for one monitor?

I don't play on overclocking at all.

 

[Continuity27]

PoweredByV8: What you said about 2 cards rendering to one monitor is SLI. Only nVidia has a solution out right now for that, you need an SLI motherboard (Like the Asus you posted) as well as 2 identical nVidia video cards that support SLI. ATI cards do not have SLI at this point in time. If you want to go with ATI, you can use 2 cards of course, but not combining their power, they will be two seperate cards that can drive at a maximum of 4 monitors. One card can drive 2 monitors.

Don't go with AGP, PCI-Express motherboards are around the same price, and PCI-Express video cards are cheaper than their AGP counterparts for the most part. Also, many video cards with two versions PCI-Express and AGP, have the PCI-Express card clocked higher than the AGP one. Get PCI-Express, there's no real downside.

If you don't want nVidia cards, I'd find an Nforce 4 Ultra board instead of SLI. If you want Asus still, try this board. Here's a Newegg link. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131530 Pair it with a single, fast ATI card.

 

[PoweredByV8]

Hey, thanks for the links. I'm not favoring ASUS at all, I just know the name. I'll go with any decent board.

The pci-e ATI cards I can get are: X700 pro 256mb, the X800 XL 256mb, and the 256mb X600 pro All-in-Wonder. I'm guessing I should go with the X800XL.

 

[NuroMancer]

Whats the epp price break, I havn't looked at the new one.

 

[PoweredByV8]

Originally posted by: NuroMancer
Whats the epp price break, I havn't looked at the new one.

Not sure what you mean.

 

[PoweredByV8]

anyone?