Which comes first?

[jkohm]

Building my first system. As I understand it there are two standards when it comes to video card GPUs. Nvidia and ATI. If I want to use one video card it doesn't make any difference which mother board I buy. If I want to use dual video cards I have to buy a motherboard that supports SLI or Crossfire.

My system will be a multitasking unit used mainly for video/photo editing and as a Media Center PC white web surffing, some game playing, word and excel etc. I'm planning on using a quad Q9450 processor. Sounds like 64 bit Vista is best. I'm not limited by a budget but am not interested in wasting $. If spending a little more will provide a noticeable improvement I'll do it. Also I want this system to last and be upgradeable.

I suspect I first need to pick a video card that would be best for the media center application. What are my options and what are the trade offs?. How much memory should it have? If I get more into gaming it sounds like I might want to add a second card later witch limits my mother board choices. What wound be a good MB for the video card?

OR do I have the cart before the horse. Should I decide on a motherboard and then pick the best fit video card. I suspect I'll go the DDR3 route and would play with over clocking but, It's not a priority.

OR is there a hands down, no brainer obvious pick for both.

OR am I all wet and don't really understand whats going on?
TIA, jmk

 

[Peezee]

Here are some suggestions:

Motherboard: eVGA 750i SLI or MSI P7N SLI Platinum (get the eVGA if you can).
Most newer video cards are able to perform perfectly in a Media Center. But if you may want to game, get an 8800GT (512mb). That way, you'll be all set for both Media Center and gaming, and they've hit an all-time-low price. Also, with one of those two motherboards, you will be able to SLi it when the new series (GT200) comes out. So you won't be behind everyone else when the time comes
Best card price-performance, along with the 9600GT, easily.

I just bought an 8800GT, and I'm extremely happy with it. It can play any Blu-Ray / HD-DVD format aswell without stuttering.

 

[Jax Omen]

I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion.

Get an x48-based motherboard, one that supports DDR2. DDR3 offers very little, if any, real-world advantage over DDR2 and costs drastically much more than DDR2.

Sure, you can't SLI (Crossfire is an option), but it's a much more stable board. The Nforce boards suck for overclocking, especially quads. Besides, 9 times out of ten, you'll only need a single card for all your gaming needs anyway. A single 8800GTS 512 right now can handle all but a few games at near-max settings at 1920x1200.