will the case i'm about to buy be able to hold 2 8800 gtxs?

pepperg

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i want to get a case large enough for two 8800gtx cards, in case i decide to go the sli route in the future. will this hold two?


LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811112099

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811112099

Model
Brand LIAN LI
Model PC-7B plus II
Spec
Type ATX Mid Tower
Color Black
Case Material Aluminum
With Power Supply No
Power Supply No
Motherboard Compatibility 12" x 9.6" ATX
With Side Panel Window No
Expansion
External 5.25" Drive Bays 4
External 3.5" Drive Bays 2
Internal 3.5" Drive Bays 3
Expansion Slots 7
Front Ports
Front Ports USB2.0 x 2 ; IEEE 1394 x 1; MIC x 1; EAR x 1
Cooling System
80mm Fans No
120mm Fans 12 cm ball bearing x 2
Physical Spec
Dimensions 19.3" x 17.8" x 8.3"


also, what is the diff't btwn the SATA and IDE versions of the LITE-ON dvd burners, and is one prefferable to the other?

thanks
 

spet3r

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I'd say yes... but each card will take 2 slots because of the VGA / DVI connectors and that fan slot so that means you need 4 slots in the case. Not sure how much room is left over for any PCI cards if you plan on having any? I usually give an extra one or two PCI slots so the video cards have enough air circulation.

Just one comment on the case... I like the two 120 mm fans but I don't like that metal interior going from the drive slots to the Power Supply area. Might be a pain to get that power supply in... but thats just speculation. You're the one building it not me.

BTW, which power supply are you going with? From what I read just one of these needs 500 Watts... 1000 Watt power supplies are for servers (and expensive--$350 ouch)!!
 

pepperg

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OCZ GameXStream OCZ850GXSSLI ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 850Watts Power Supply in case i decide to sli, i wanted a lot of power so i could do so

i will also have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 70SB073A00000 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card in the system. think there will be enough room for the two 8800gtx cards and that?

here's the mobo i am getting:
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
 

spet3r

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Think you should have no problem with that setup... the only way you'll find out otherwise is if you try it.

if you go SLI, you'll need more than 850 watts with that card. One requires 450 watts... so you need at least 900. I know theres a 1000 watt out there but its $350.

if you're going to be spending all that cash, why not get the Fatal1ty instead of the XtremeGamer.... btw I have the Fatal1ty and love it.
 

slavadon

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if you go SLI, you'll need more than 850 watts with that card. One requires 450 watts... so you need at least 900. I know theres a 1000 watt out there but its $350.

There's a PSU guru floating around here somewhere. I'm pretty sure he'll tell you that's wrong. A fully running system with 1 8800 GTX requires at least 450 wats and like 32A on the 12V rail (something like that). When you add another 8800 GTX you aren't adding a whole new system, just another graphics card. A nice 850W PSU should be perfectly fine for SLI and OCing. The wattage guide in the resident PSU guru's sig told me I'd need around 770W to run X-Fi, a bunch of fans, a high end OCed C2D system with 2GB RAM etc..., and 2 8800 GTXs all at 100% load.
 

pepperg

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thanks for the info guys- i think 850w is enough for the reasons u mention

what's the diff't btwn the fatality and the creative card i'm getting?
 

BoomBatz

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Mine held the cards, i just had to dremel cut about 1" off the end of the card. I can't really tell if it slowed the card down, if anything it is slightly faster now.
 

pepperg

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you had to cut part of the card off to fit in the case?! yikes...

was this for 1 or 2 gtx's? needless to say, i won't be cutting into my card

i noticed it is described as a midsize tower. perhaps i need a larger one for the gtx cards?
 

spet3r

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Thanks for the clarification on the PS... I just remember reading somewhere that a 1000w is needed for SLI. Give the 850w a shot... if it dogs can always upgrade later... just depends how much load the system demands.

I found a couple of differences that I looked at last March when I picked up my Fatal1ty.

To give a little background, I upgraded from an Audigy 2 (first generation) and thought it was worth it to go all out and get the Fatl1ty verses the XtremeGamer. I also have a 5.1 Creative Megaworks speaker set and a pair of Sony MDR-V500 headphones... so an upgrade is noticeable.


Physically, the regular Fatal1ty has a front panel with the bigger headphone jack plug, line in plug, optical in, SPIF, RCA, and 2 Midi connectors. The card itself seems a little bit larger so that tells me it has more on it like 64 mb of X-Ram which lessens a little load on the motherboard (not much btw, but enough to notice... at least I do with my puny CPU). Not sure what else is on the card but just comparing the pictures.

Software: I have Entertainment mode, Audio Creation Mode, and Gamer mode... each sounds a little different and tells the card what your doing so it can render the sound. Theres a ton of settings to adjust the sound to where it really sounds good... So far I've been pretty happy with it.

Creative did release a Gamer Pro Version of the Fatal1ty for $150 verses the regular Fatal1ty which goes for $200... The Gamer Pro doesn't have the front panel and doesn't come with the remote... so if you don't think you'd use those things it would save some money to go with that... I have the regular Fatal1ty and do use the front panel because its just more convenient. When I plug in my headphones, the speakers mute which is a nice. I couldn't do that with my Audigy 2.

When it comes down to it, its your preference and what you expect. To me you seem like you want the best considering your putting a lot down on your video card.