Building a Dual Core System for Applications/Gaming

Hey well this is my first post but i've been wondering exactly how I should go about my next upgrade/new system buy.

I work in the Adobe Creative Suite all of the time, and I always have at least one of the programs on the go and frequently switch between them. Now im pretty sure that dual core is the way to go so ill show you what i have picked out and maybe you guys can help me out with it...

CPU
AMD Athlon X2 3800

Motherboard
ASUS A8N SLI

Hard Drive
Seagate SATA 250 GB
existing Maxtor 160 GB

Video Cards
XFX 6800 GT x2 for SLI

Sound Card
existing Audigy 2 Ex

Optical Drives
existing HP 420n DVD-RW Drive
existing LG x16 DVD-ROM

RAM
4 x 1024 OCZ DDR2 5400 667Mhz

Monitors
Monitor 1:
Gateway 21" HDTV-Ready LCD Monitor

Monitor 2 & 3:
NEC MultiSync 19" LCD Monitor (1940CX-BK)

Case
Not sure which to choose, I dont really want to spend a ton, but im more worried about buying the correct PSU. Is it just the 7800 series that has the additional power plugins?


Since I work with very large files I wanted to have the extra amount of RAM. Do you think this is necessary? Im really just going SLI because of the extra monitors but it doesnt hurt to have it for gaming. Do you think this build is okay?

Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks in advance!

Well if I did want to go DDR2 memory over standard ddr which socket would be the best to go? Should I go AMD or go over to intel 775? I know AMD's tend to run better at the 3800's price range.

Claimed mem speed (DDR2 667 vs PC3200/400 MHz) is not all it's cracked up to be when comparing platforms...

Generally, the Intel/DDR2 platforms, even equipped with the best DDR2 available and processors using a 1066 FSB, take a general purpose spanking from A64 series with superior integrated mem controllers in 95% of the benchmarks using lowly standard PC3200/DDR, the sole exception usually being video encoding/decoding using SSE/Hyperthreaded aware applications....

If you have not already purchased DDR2, I'd go with the A64 X2 as planned, unless exclusively doing video decoding, in which case you can look at a 975 board and a 9xx dual core from Intel. (AMD will be switching to DDR2 and a new 940 pin socket, AM2, in about July or thereabouts...)

as stated above, if you're looking to go with ddr2 memory, then you will have to switch to an intel chip as amd does not support ddr2 yet.

as far as the x2 3800, definitely a mighty little processor. i have mine overclocked to 2.5ghz/1.52v and it just flies. i do a lot of photoshop/dreamweaver/winamp/cs:s. i usually leave photoshop, dreamweaver, and winamp open and running when i startup cs:s and play for a couple hours. occassionally i will watch a dvd on my second monitor while working in photoshop/dreamweaver, with no drop in performance.

A little FYI you can only use the 2 vid. ports on the vidio card in the 1st slot.
(I'm speaking from experiance.)

Isnt that only if I use the cards in SLI mode though? If I disable that I was under the impression you can run (if i wanted to) quad monitors

Yeah I understand that, if it becomes an issue with game for performance ill turn SLI on.. I was worried there for a second.. phew!

the only reason the DDR400 outperforms the DDR2 in this instance is because AMD processors use on-die memory controllers, and Intel chips depend on the chipset to relay the signals.

It is speculated that when the new AM2 socket comes out that it will outshine the Intel memory times again.

I actually think that if you're going to use this many resources on this machine and are worried about future-proofing, I would wait until the new AM2 chips come out(if you can wait) if not, the AMD 939 chips are the way to go right now, that means DDR.

Exactly but it's just logic that the AM2 platform will have more life and upgradeability from this point on than the 939... AMD has said they aren't releasing any more chips for 939, but there'll probably be shitloads for the AM2.