Questions. Suggestions. What-to-buy.

[Ating]

Hi guys,
I guess it's time for me to upgrade my computer! Eventually, I'd like to end up with SLI. For the moment, I will be buying the 7900 GTX. I'm open for suggestions, here is what I currently have in mind.

PSU: I'll be getting the 1kw PCC&C.
CPU: C2D X6800.
Mobo: Asus P5N32 SLI Deluxe (Any suggestions here?).
Gfx Card: 7900 GTX.

RAM: I really need some help here! I don't know much about RAM, what to buy etc. I would like something that is not extremely high end, something mid range, preferably, which will allow me to OC my x6800. Would appreciate it if you could show me some midrange ram, and some high range ones. I would appreciate it too, if someone could link me with some good ram explaining articles, however I'll be googling for them after I've submitted this post.

SoundCard: I'm aiming to (in the future) buy a soundcard, but for the moment (to keep costs down lol) I'm settling for onboard sound! :lol:. I guess I'm used to my laptops onboard sound, so this one wouldn't really bother me.

HardDrive: I'll probably, in the future again, end up with 2x raptors, RAIDed. As they are pretty expensive, and I want to keep my initial budget low(er), are they any noticable speed difference between lets say a cheaper 7,200 rpm drive as compared to 1 raptor? I guess, if i bought a cheaper (larger capacity) drive, it could always serve as my backup drive, in the future. Can someone let me know whether raid-0, can be run as SATA. I think it can, but I'm not really sure


I would also appreciate it if someone could tell me whether it is possible to turn a computer on without the case, (rather, without the button to switch it on) are they some wires i have to cross to do that?

Appreciate those answers and ideas guys 8) .

-Daniel.

Edit: Oh yeah, the budget. Yeh, err, 3-4k round about there. (not including monitor)

 

[Mousemonkey]

Yes you can turn a pooter on without the case, a screwdriver across the PWR pins momentarily does the trick, SATA RAID-0 I think so but stand to be corrected so don't take that as gospel nice grfx card by the way me mates got one in his rig and it goes like stink and if you ever get bored with your PSU just send it to me LOL , onboard sound works for me so no prob there as for your RAM lets hope some of the old hands read yor post as I don't run an Intel CPU and I'm a tight fisted git anyway so for me the cheaper the better

 

[The_Prophecy]

Power Supply: WAY OVERKILL. No one ever needs a 1KW supply unless they are getting a quad SLI setup. Drop to an Antec Truepower 550W

Motherboard: The P5N32-SLI Deluxe does not support any of the Conroe processors. You will need to change this as well. I suggest the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3.

Video Card: The 7900GTX is a waste of money. If you really want a high end card now, drop to the 7900GT

RAM: OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800

Sound Card: Eventually, grab a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Hard Drives: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 <--- A few of these offer better overall performance for the price than a couple RAID'ed Raptors would.

Yes, it is possible to turn the system on outside of the case. Find the 2 pins for the power switch on the motherboards front panel block and bridge them with something conductive, like a screw driver.