Suggestions for Micro ATX SLI System

[ManChild1031]

I just ordered an eVGA 131-K8-NF44-AX SLI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with an AMD 64 3400+ 2.2G 939 512K CPU. All I need now are videocard(s) and ram, and I have some questions:

Do I need to get two identical videocards for SLI to work?

Do I need stronger PSU for two cards? I have a 450W.

I'm not planning to O/C. Do I still need rams with good timing?

Any suggestion of good video card and ram? It's a low end machine so I'm not planning to spend big money on videocard(s), but will be interested to try out SLI.

Thanks a lot!

 

[pkrush]

1. No, you don't need two identical video cards, they can be different brands with different clock speeds but must be the same model.
2. Depends. What brand is that 450 watt PSU? If it's a good one, then you should be fine, but if it's old or an off brand, you definitely want to upgrade to something that's SLI certified.
3. No.
4. SLI is really pointless with anything less than 7600gt's (as in, you can get a single card faster then the set of two for less money). Personally, I'd get SLI 7900GS's with 2 gigs of RAM (can go down to 1 gig if you absolutely can't afford it, but performance in some games, especially Battlefield 2 and Oblivion, will suffer). To save some money, get your RAM used off the For Sale/Trade forums here.