First off let me say that I am impressed and have enjoyed reading the information on this website. You guys are friendly and quite informative. This is my first post. I am finalizing my part selections for my new gaming rig I plan on building when income taxes come in but I have a few questions before I post my parts for you all to review.
1. SLI, is it all it's cracked up to be and is it worth buying an SLI capable motherboard? I want a computer that I can fully upgrade, say, two years down the road whether it be slapping another processor in or adding another video card or both. How much gain do you get by adding another video card? Is it essentially twice the power? I guess what I'm teetering on is would it be better to replace my video card down the road with something more cutting edge or would I get the same kind of gains by adding a second card?
2. Video card, I've decided to go with a 7800gt, just can't afford the gtx. Problem is there a a hundred different 7800gt's by different manufactures with slightly different clock speeds. These are the cards I am looking at. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&SubCategory=48 Now is this comparing apples to oranges or is there a clear cut winner?
4. Socket type, I've read that 939 will be discontinued in the near future so how does that figure in to upgrading my pc down the road? Will I not be able to find a processor or video card to work with my motherboard when I plan to upgrade in a couple years?
5. Motherboard, This is where I am really confused as I know little about motherboards. I've got this lined up as potential candidate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524 Thoughts and opinions on this board. Any other suggestions? I may overclock in the future.
I know I asked a lot but this is my first build and I want everything to be as perfect as I can make it and I value all your opinions. So please, anyone and everyone chime in, it's greatly appreciated!
1.
Get the SLI Motherboard. The SLI Mobos are amoung the most expensive but have the buttkicking power to help most other parts on the PC fly with ease. In addition SLI does double the graphical power, but, if you do settle for SLI you will need to get an NVIDIA built GPU. If you do not purchase the exact same cards for SLI it will not work.
2
Either BFG, or evga, both of them are great and the BFG series can come availible already overclocked which will come later on down the road.
3.
DO NOT GET X2! That series is for workstation PCs, they are made to multi-task. I know the FX series is expensive but I recommend it, they are made for gaming. Or you could just get-down-with the 4000+, personly have that and highly suggest it.
4.
I don't know much about socket types but get the 939 I have it and I can get whatever I want and they will work just fine.
5.
ASUS SLI Deluxe... as simple as that. This Mobo has everything needed to opperate SLI, have it cooled, and run a CPU, sound card, modem, 2x GPUs, and a small fan.
Your saying don't get the X2? Most places I read says go with the X2 because future games will benifit from dual processors? Plus, couldn't I overclock the X2 to match or even perhaps go beyond the 4000+ specs and be ready for future programs? Thanks.
Overclocking wont help much, it will just boost the core speed a few mhz and may not be noticable. Anyway duel-core is for multi-tasking, making it not an idea in, game producers minds, to make a game for workstation computers. If you do get an FX series the power for gaming will be austounding. It almost works as duel prossecers.
System 1 :- Main PC: AMD XP 3200+ - OC Slightly 2.31Ghz, 1024 MB DDR PC2700, 1 x 40GB Hard Drive, 1 x 60GB Hard Drive, ATI 9600XT (256 MB)Graphics Card.
Laptop 1: 1GB DDR2 Ram, 100Gb Samsung HDD, ATI X700 128mb Graphics Card.
System 2: Downloading PC: AMD Sempron 2500+, 512 MB DDR PC2700, 1 x 40GB Hard Drive.
