sizzling :
RAM you want 2 sticks so it can run in dual channel mode. Buying 8gb now and 8gb later is not a good idea either as RAM should be bought as matched sets to ensure it will work without problems. Get 2x4gb.
In real world applications and games, you are not likely to encounter any significant performance difference between single and dual channel memory, unless you are using integrated graphics, which can benefit from the additional bandwidth. With a dedicated graphics card, performance using RAM running in single channel mode will be almost identical to that of RAM running in dual channel mode. There might be a difference of 1 fps or so in some titles, but it's not anything you would likely notice while playing the game.
If the selected motherboard had 4 RAM slots, I would say to go with 2 sticks to get that extra bit of performance, but with only 2 RAM slots, a single stick is probably better for future upgrades. Currently, most games see little to no benefit from having more than 8GB of RAM, but within a couple years you'll start to see a lot more games recommending more, at which point having a free slot available should make for a less expensive upgrade, since you won't have to replace your existing RAM to add more. So it's probably best to either stick with one stick of RAM for now, or find another compatible motherboard with 4 slots.
Lehan123456789 :
It is 2 680s, for slightly more than 1 1050. Assuming a 1.5x scaling factor for SLI, it will beat the 1050 by over 50%! You could even just buy 1 for $110 and save, while still beating the 1050 in terms of performance. Of course there are other factors at play too here. You need to pick it up and often they do not have warranties, however I am personally running a GTX 960 which I got 8 months ago for $120.
The other factor, of course, is power consumption, however if you, say, got 1 680 for $110, you would be able to get a significantly more reliable power supply with a higher wattage (it might even be modular or semi-modular), in addition to the ~30% performance gains.
The additional power consumption and heat output would be less than ideal on an SLI setup like that. Plus, of course, his selected motherboard doesn't even support SLI. : P Even if it did though, being older cards, each GTX 680 would draw up to around 200 watts under load, and combined would make for a rather noisy, power-hungry system. Plus there are plenty of games that don't support SLI, or don't support it well. Having one GTX 680 (or other prior-generation card of comparable performance) might not be bad though, especially if it could be found for less used.
However, whatever the card, I think that looking for one with 4GB (or maybe even 3GB) of VRAM might be a good idea, as there are already some games that can see a significant performance hit with only 2GB, and that will only get worse in the games coming out next year, or the year after. For a primarily gaming-centered system, it might even be worth passing on the SSD for now to help you move up to a higher-end graphics card. An SSD may help make load times more tolerable, and the system a bit more responsive outside of gaming, but they won't actually do much to help frame rates. And the prices of SSDs are relatively high right now due to a flash memory shortage, so waiting another six months or so to add an SSD might get you more capacity for the money as well.
. BTW that listing did say 1 670 for $110 (which still outperforms the 1050 for less money) also that was an example, and much better deals can be had (provided you are willing to search for a while and perhaps wait for one to come up (I got a 960 for $120).
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