Daeval Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) Ok, so I'm planning a new rig (thanks Oblivion... ) for a tight budget and upgrade-ability. What I'm looking at: Intel Pentium D (775) 820ASUS 975X P5WD2-E PremiumBFG GeForce 7800GT OC 256MB You might notice that the mobo is rather fancy compared to the rest of the parts, and that's because I want to leave my upgrade options as wide open as possible on this box. I go the intel route because the fine gentleman who funds my college education works for intel, so the bias is sort of obligatory. Let's not waste time with that argument. Anyway, it's been a while since I've done this, and I had a few questions that I can't seem to find answers to... 1) RAM - how do I know it's compatible with my CPU? DDR2 comes in everything from 400MHz to 1000MHz. The mobo specs say it supports 800, 667 and 533. How do I know which of those my CPU will be compatible with? 2) Video Cards - The mobo boasts 2x PCIe x16 slots. I'm only looking at one video card for now, but does this mean I could get another of the same card later on and throw it in for uber performance? The board says it's ATI crossfire ready. It says nothing about SLI, which I think I've figured out is Nvidia's dual-gpu technology? Does this mean I can't get all wonder twins with Nvidia cards on this board? Thanks! Edited March 23, 2006 by Daeval Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 TBH, I never seemed to care about ATI's crossfire (it's plagued with problems IMO). Try to find one thats SLI ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeval Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) Ok, an anandtech review of the board said this about it: We found the SATA 1 and 3 ports were partially blocked when utilizing the NVIDIA 7800GTX cards in both PCI-E x16 slots. This seems to imply that you can pair up NVidia cards in the board, no? Am I missing something here? Edit:Ok nevermind, apparently SLI is on boards with NVidia's NForce chipset only. This is weaksauce. This means my choices are "Upgradeable with Conroe core chipsets and 800MHz RAM" OR "SLI"... Hmm.. I'm tempted towards the SLI. Edited March 23, 2006 by Daeval Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madman Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 If you like to play games, go with an Athlon64. To date this is the fastest affordable CPU out there. Unless you want to heat your room with that Intel crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gryph Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 If you like to play games, go with an Athlon64. To date this is the fastest affordable CPU out there. Unless you want to heat your room with that Intel crap.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I go the intel route because the fine gentleman who funds my college education works for intel, so the bias is sort of obligatory. Let's not waste time with that argument. I would have already suggested AMD by now. I say screw the Conroe upgrade and go for the SLI since if and when you upgrade to Conroe, you may end up getting a new mobo anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeval Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) Ok, I got a sudden increase in funding (via a trade-in deal with a friend), and the resulting rig is as follows: New Parts:Pentium D (775) 930 3.0GHz PreslerASUS 975X P5WD2-E PremiumMSI GeForce 7800GTX 256MB1GB (2x512) Crucial PC-5300 Ballistix Remaining Old Parts:Antec Sonata chassis400W Enermax Low-Noise PSU120GB Low-Noise Seagate BaraccudaNEC 16x Dual-Layer DVD-RLite-On DVD-ROMSound Blaster Audigy With the increase in funding, I decided to bypass the future SLI upgrade for the immediate GTX upgrade. I may also need a beefier PSU to handle the GTX, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I may have to find a 775 replacement for this baby, depending on how the stock cpu cooler sounds: http://www.nexustechnologyusa.com/c/ntusa/PHT-3600_1.htmlThat thing was freaking silent and ran cool enough. Nexus makes a 775 cooler, but I can't find any reviews on it. Edited March 23, 2006 by Daeval Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 You can keep all that old crap, and get a xfi or ZS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeval Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) Yeah, I'm not real worried about the sound card. The audigy still works, and my speakers haven't gotten any better, so meh. By "remaining parts" I meant stuff that was staying in the system. The only things being replaced: -P4 2.8 Northwood, 800MHz FSB, HT-2x256MB some really bitching 2-2-2 rated PC3200. It's some super-chip variety of mushkin black if I remember correctly.-ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe mobo-GeForce Ti4600 Edited March 23, 2006 by Daeval Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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