Need Experts Advise on building new system

[Mr Film Maker]

Hey everyone,

I was set on building a system that utilized Nvidia Cards and Mother boards. However, due to the new 4870 cards, now I am interested in building an ATI system instead.

I am looking to use ATI 4870 now and was wondering what would be the best recommnded Mother Board that will allow Crossfire 2 4870s

Currently I have:
- Case: COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000
- Processor: Q6600
- ATI 4870

Recommendations I need:
- Mother Board that allows Crossfire 2 4870s
- RAM
- Power Supply
- Hard Drives

I appreciate your help.

 

[slayeron444]

MOBO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128336
this mobo will not bottleneck your 2 4870's in crossfire

PSU:
I would get the Corsair 750tx, I believe that should be sufficient for crossfire, may need to go one step up, not possitive though.

Hard Drive:
get the WD Caviars they are great for the price, IMO

 

[shadowthor]

wd 640, mobo looks good and psu.

 

[galta]

+1 for slayeron444 on mobo.
On RAM, any major brand should do (OCZ, Corsair, Patriot). If you do not intend to OC heavily, a good DDR2800 would do for you.

 

[einstein4pres]

Since 4870 CF takes a little over 420W, you should consider PSU around 600W or above.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

Choose a X38 or a X48 motherboard.

Choose DDR2-800 RAM with acceptable timings.

As for hard drives, the SpinPoint F1 750 or the WD 640 drives are reviewed highly.

 

[Shadow703793]

I agree with above posters on the X48-DS4 and 600W+ PSU. For PSU for 4870 CrossFire I recommend PC Power & Cooling 750 or Corsair 750TX or better. For RAM go with good quality (ie Corsair, G.Skill, Patriot,etc) DDR2 800 2*2GB RAM.

 

[1haplo]

+1 for X48 Chipset with DDR2 ASUS Rampage Formula, P5E Deluxe, Etc.

+1 on DDR2 RAM Good Brand RAM Crucial, Corsair, OCZ, Patriot, Etc. "NO PQI"

+1 on WD 640

PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W $89.99 At Newegg after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005

The reason for DDR2 is Price and DDR3 is not really that much faster. Get DDR3 only if you think you will upgrade your MB within a year(Nelalem). DDR3 should drop fast after DDR3 is mainstream.

1Haplo

 

[Shadow703793]

Nice. Newegg has the PP&C 610 for $90 again.

 

[jpbg]

+1 for corsiar 750tx which should give you plenty of power and head room.
+1 for that mobo
+1 for wd640

 

[Mr Film Maker]

Thanks everyone for the quick detailed responses.

Looking at X48 there are a few variation ranging in price from $200 range all the wayto $400!

I know the more expensive one has more features .. but is it worth it? Or a simpler version will do?

Also looking at 4870 cards, a few are coming out with different vairations: The Diamond OC Black Edition and Color with 1 gig RAM.
Do you think there will be a huge difference between these or should I go with the Factory standard one?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Mr Film Maker]

cough cough ..

One more question that I need help on:
I have read some complaining about conflict issues between sound cards and MOBO. Any one know if ASUS x48 has issues with creative sound cards??

Thank you for your quick resonse.

 

[dirtmountain]

Worth it only if you want/need those features. Creative is still having driver problems with Vista last i heard, you might check out the Asus Xonar cards....or better yet use onboard sound for awhile and see if it does what you want, add a sound card later if it needs it.

 

[Mr Film Maker]

Thanks for your response. Is the problem with sound card drivers related only to Vista?
I will be using windows xp. Would the ASUS x48 + Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer + Windows XP have conflict ?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Mr Film Maker]

Is ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard a good MOBO?

It is cheaper than x 48. Please let me know of your opinion as I am ready to order by tomorrow.

Thanks.

 

[deusex]

how would Corsair HX620 (620W) run CF? I think hothardware or someone said that it actually output ~745W....

 

[hyperjoe]

I would still go with the 750TX. Better safe than sorry.

Also, when it comes to sound cards, there should be no conflict as long as you disable the onboard sound (sometimes referred to as Codecs) in the motherboard's BIOS menu.

JR