asapilot

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I've recently come into some spare cash, so I'm in the process of building a completely new system. Since money isn't the driving factor, I figured I'd go (almost)all out. My initial thought was to go with an e6600 and and two 8800 GTXs in SLI. In my reading though, it seems that the CPU will be the bottleneck and I may not see any appreciable benefit from SLI as opposed to a single card. It appears that something like the ex6800 or qx6700 would be required to really let the system reach it's full potential. I hadn't really planned to go that route initially since I didn't feel that I'd see real benefits(from the quad anyway) for a while until the software catches up. So, my question/dilemma is this:

1) Go crazy now and get it all. Money isn't a huge issue, but I don't want to waste it if I'm not going to get something out of it.

2) Go with the e6600 and single card now and add the other components as needed.

3) Go SLI now and upgrade the CPU later as prices fall.

I'm inclined to go with #3 because I think they'll be a more appreciable drop in price in the CPUs later this year than there will be with GPUs. Just my hunch though.

This will be installed on an eVGA n680i MD with 2GB OCZ PC2-8500 SLI-Ready RAM.

Thanks!
 

InteliotInside

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Unless you gaming at resolutions greater than 1600x1200, SLI (especially with two 8800s) isn't worth it.

I'd just stick to a simple P965 mobo like the Gigabyte DS3 or Asus P5B-E Plus, Core 2 Duo E6600 (or save up for the Q6600 or QX6700), one 8800GTX and some nice fast RAM.
 

jonrem

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well I guess it's a good quandry to be in. I'd reccommend getting a 975 mobo that supports SLI, and single GTX for now and a Core2Quad. If you plan on playing SupCom the quad core will come in real handy. You can then pick up another GTX this summer when prices drop to about 450.
 

immagikman

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Unless you are planning on building an obsolescent rig...I would go with the Quad core as it is going to be a factor more and more as time goes on, the same for the SLI. Sure you can build a cheaper rig but it will be outpaced faster.

GPU's are coming intotheir own and Nvidia has planned for this, more tasks will be offloaded to the GPUS in the coming days.
 

jonrem

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well I guess it's a good quandry to be in. I'd reccommend getting a 975 mobo that supports SLI, and single GTX for now and a Core2Quad. If you plan on playing SupCom the quad core will come in real handy. You can then pick up another GTX this summer when prices drop to about 450.

Unfortunately, there are no 975 mobos that support SLI, except with hacked drivers. I know of no hacked Vista drivers for a 975/SLI combo.

My bad, I was thinking 680 and had a brainfart this morning.
 

ajfink

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I, too, would suggest avoiding SLI. A QX6700 and one 8800GTX with 2 (or 4 if you use a 64-bit OS?) GB of RAM would probably suit you better.

SLI is really only for those who must have the absolutely best, because otherwise it doesn't make sense to use it.
 

immagikman

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SLI is really only for those who must have the absolutely best, because otherwise it doesn't make sense to use it.

Unless you want to run a high end game with all the graphics turned on...and there are several out now and MANY coming this year that will require SLI to run flat out balls to the wall.

Depends on how nice you want your new games to work...of course if you have a crappy monitor....guess it doesnt matter.
 

asapilot

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Well, after reading your responses(thanks, BTW) and thinking about it some more, I decided that, like most of you suggested, going with the QX6700 now would give me more system now and better longevity. I know the Quad prices will drop next month, but the money's in the bank now and may not be then. Plus it's easier to save the $4-500 in a few months for the additional 800 GTX than it is to save $7-800 for the CPU later. Right now I've got a 19" LCD, so I'm not maxing out on resolution therefore SLI won't be so important at this point. When I'm ready to get a bigger monitor, I'll get the second card. So, I've got the QX6700 now and I'm going to start to work shortly. Here's what I'm working with so far:

eVGA nForce 680i MoBo
Core 2 Extreme QX7600
OCZ 2GB PC2-8500 SLI-ready
Thermaltake Toughpower 850w PSU
eVGA 8800 GTX

Initially I'm going to go with an SATA II drive I already have. I'd like to go with some Raptors, but I need more storage than a couple of 74GB drives can do, so I'm still working that out.

For cooling I'm going to pull my Thermaltake Bigwater out of my old box and see how it does when I start cranking things up!

Thanks