Upgrade conundrum

[cKGunslinger]

In researching parts for a complete system upgrade next month, I was 90% decided on a system before I began to second-guess myself.

I am building a gaming rig (nothing too heavy, I mostly play WoW, then typically 6-month to 1-year-old FPS.) My main feature is going to be a Dell 2005FPW, so I need a system that will drive most games at or near it's default resolution (1680x1050.) I've decided on an Opteron 144 (OC'd) with 2GB RAM, but my problem is centered about the Motherboard and Video Card combo.

My initial setup had DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity motherboard with a Radeon x800 GTO2. I was going to unlock and OC the card to get 16-pipelines and greater speeds. After looking a bit more, I've come across the DFI LanParty Ultra-D for a ~$35 premium over the other board. Now, to try and reclaim that extra $$, I've considered cutting back on the GPU, to maybe a 6800XT, with the hopes that I could eventually add a second one for an SLI setup. I'm not entirely sure this board supports SLI, although it does have 2 PCI-Express x16 slots (DFI makes other boards that have "SLI" in their names, which is why I'm confused as to if this one supports such.)

So, my choice seems to come down to whether I want to downgrade my graphics to get, what appears to be, a superior motherboard. I don't know if the benefits of the LanParty board over the Ultra-Infinity are worth it. Of course, there's always the 3rd option, which is to get the LanParty and a 6800GS (nVidia equivalent to the x800 GTO2, I beleive,) such that I have the same graphics power (for additional $$,) but with the potential (?) to go SLI for my next upgrade.

------

Summary:

$98 - DFI Ultra-Infinity
$206 - x800 GTO2
----
$304

-or-

$135 - DFI LanParty (SLI?)
$164 - 6800XT
----
$299

-or-

$135 - DFI LanParty (SLI?)
$199 - 6800GS
----
$334


Suggestions welcome and appreciated.


edit: Complete System Link

 

[Heligrin]

You cannot fo SLI with any of those motherboards The ultra chipset is for only one video card. The nforce 4 Sli if for two video cards aka SLI. Some people have modded the Ultra chipset to recognize it as SLI, though i do not believe youll want to sodder the chipset . From what you have, i would get the last one w/ the Ultra and the GS. Best bang for buck.

 

[cx32]

get the last one. as far as i know you can still mod that board to sli and sata2

 

[duragezic]

If its a gaming rig, the video card is most important. Rather than cut back on that, I'd cut back on that expensive mobo and get a non-SLI NF4 Ultra like the Epox. Also unless you plan to heavily overclock, the Opty doesn't provide much of a performance increase in games. Regular Venice chips tend to overclock decently as it is. I'd cut back those things to spring for a 7800GT. You can get a evga NF4 mobo + evga 7800GT for $370ish.


edit: Also, fvck that Rosewill garbage. The generally accepted cheapish but quality PSU is the Fortron 400 or 450w.

 

[Tostada]

The LanParty Ultra-D is the NF4 Ultra with two x16 slots. If you want to try and make it work for SLI, you have to mod it, as in:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2322&p=2

The newer LanParty Ultra-D boards supposedly have epoxy over the chip, making it difficult to modify, not to mention the fact that it doesn't come with an SLI bridge, so you'd need to order that from DFI. Bridges are board-specific, and I haven't heard of any non-DFI ones that are the right size.

The Ultra-D is a cool board. I got it because I needed the firewire, the additional Gb LAN, and I want the two x16 slots so I can get two nice video cards to run 3 monitors. I don't think many people are going to have much use for that board, though, if they're not running several monitors. I don't see why it's so popular.

I just don't think it's a good idea to get an SLI board simply for upgradability, anyway. It's just silly. The whole point of SLI is to have next-generation performance before it's available. If you're going to wait anyway, there will probably be a singificantly better single-card solution by the time you upgrade.

DFI boards are great overclocking boards. If you're not going to overclock, though, I'd probably get something cheaper.

If you want SLI on a budget, I don't see why you wouldn't just get the $79 Biostar board. There's nothing wrong with it.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Well, I've always liked DFI, and I do plan to OC the Opteron as far as I can. And since the 939 Opteron 144 costs the exact same as the 3200+ Venice, I can't really save any money by swapping CPUs, unless I go 754, which I'm not going to do.

So, since the LanParty can't do SLI (I'm certainly not going to attempt to solder the board,) is it worth the premium over the Ultra-Infinity board? They seem to have similar features. The LanParty comes with some misc cabling and stuff, but as far as overclocking and stability are concerned, is the cheaper Ultra-Infinity as good?

Also, I recently started using these Rosewill PSUs and must say I've been impressed with the handful I've seen. The 12V rails are spot on, and for a budget PSU, the Amps on them are better than most others in that price range.

 

[bob4432]

get the cheapest m/b in the category you want, get a opty144 and then get the best gpu, since this is a gaming rig that is where you want to put the money. honestly, if you could run the cheapest m/b you could find, like the asrock dual one, with a opty144 at stock speeds and a 7800gt it would be faster in most games than o/cing the cpu on a expensive board with a cheaper gpu.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Also, I recently started using these Rosewill PSUs and must say I've been impressed with the handful I've seen. The 12V rails are spot on, and for a budget PSU, the Amps on them are better than most others in that price range.

I think a $35.99 PSU that says "Rosewill Value Series" on the sticker should make you cringe, especially when you just said, "I do plan to OC the Opteron as far as I can."

I'd at least spend another $10 on the XCLIO (supposedly made by the same ppl as Sparkle, Fortron, and PCP&C):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817189003

 

[biostud]

I have the SLI version of the Infinity, and it's a good alternative to the expensive Lanparty series.

It's also the board that Anandtech uses for o/c on a budget articles.