Help Me Boys and Girls

[jalpaugh1978]

Ok, here's my recently built rig(3 months old)....

Intel E8400
Gigabyte UD3R
G-Skill Pi 4GB DDR2 800
EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 SC
WD 320GB Sata 2 HDD 16mb Cache
PC P&C 750W PSU
Xiggy Dark Knight
Antec 900
Windows Vista Home Prem. 64bit
Acer X223w 22"


I have a couple of questions. First, since I'm an Nvidia guy, I would like to go SLI eventually. Obviously, with the board I got, it's not possible. With that said, I purchased an 8 month-old EVGA 680i board( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188013 ) on ebay for $43. It worked fine when a friend and I tested it out with some of his stuff. Should I swap the boards and make the EVGA 680i my primary board or should I trade both boards in for a this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188026 . I know P45 boards are the preffered Core 2 boards in these forumns, and I have no complaints with my Gigabyte board, but as I said, I would like to have the room to upgrade my graphics with out breaking the bank on a new higher end card in the future. I think I would benefit from having an SLI board and the option of getting another GTX 260.

So those are my questions. Do keep the p45 board in???Swap it for the 680I board???or Trade both of these boards in and get the EVGA 750I FTW board??? Tri-SLI is not an option because I will probably build new again before I have to take that step. Thanks people for your input, it's much appreciated

 

[Proximon]

Blech.

Sell em all and get yourself a nice X58 board and a i7 920.... Or better yet wait a bit and see if the new P55 boards support SLI. I expect they will. Not sure when they are arriving though.

 

[jalpaugh1978]

Not to an A$$ but the wife said no more major upgrades for the next three years. Now she doesn't Usually put the hammer down, but she was pretty clear about the pain I would suffer if I went on another spending spree. i7 or i5 will not be an option for me for quite a while. I, however, would like to have the option of adding another GPU in the future(end of the year). Just wanting to know what my best option of the the three I listed would be the best for my needs. I use my pc primarily for gaming(FPS and RPG) and surfing the web. Don't get me wrong Having an i7 or a future i5 pc would be nice but it would also be overkill for my needs...

 

[Proximon]

I think if the 680i plays well with your CPU, it's just as good as the 750.

 

[jalpaugh1978]

Thanks for your help

 

[photonboy]

With that CPU, you'd be far better off just upgrading your single graphics card.

Many people talk about buying a single card then get another one later when prices drop. In general, either SLI right away or don't do it at all.

This might change as games support SLI better though so if you can pick another card up later on for $100 or less it might be worth it.

 

[buzznut]

personnally I wouldn't buy anything that says "for the win" but thats just me