Please recomend a PCIe X16 Graphic card for new system

[jonathon38]

I am building a new system and I am new to the gaming world. My new system will start with a Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Black Case which has 3 230MM Fans and allows me to install 3 more 230MM and 1 120MM for great cooling. It is also set up for water cooling but I don't know much about H2o cooling. I want to buy the MSI 790FX-GD70 Motherboard / CPU Bundle - AMD 790FX, Socket AM3, CrossFireX, PCI Express 2.0, AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, 3.20GHz CPU. Thinking of using Corsair PC10600 1333MHz 4GB DDR3 Desktop Memory Upgrade - 4096MB (2x 2048MB), 240 Pin, Dual-Channel, and Corsair TX750W 750-Watt Power Supply - ATX, 140mm Fan, SLI-Ready, SATA-Ready, 80Plus-4 X PCIe Joints, and 1 TB = 2 X 500GB WD500AAKS Hard Disks. I'm using a 23" 1080P HD Monitor Made by Sceptre with DVI. Now it comes to my graphic cards. I think I want to start with just one card but I want to be able to add a second, third and fourth. I'm going to add a Blur-Ray Burner and a DVD-RW. Any advise on Brand Name? I'm tring to keep cost down and would like to be able to use this PC as a work station as well. My O/S is Vista Home Premium 32 Bit. I pretty sure I will have to upgrade to 64 Bit when I add more memory. The MOB comes with 8 channel sound, should I add Creative Labs SB X-FI Titanium PCIe Sound Card?


One question I have is: do all of the cars have to be the exactly the same?
Question 2: ATI or nVidia and should I go with 512, 786, 1Gig?
Question 3: does the above configuration sound good, or should I change out MOB? Memory? Power Pack?
Question 4: Do I need 64 bit Vista to run the above system?

I'm new to gaming and I know you guy's are experts when it comes to this subject.

Any advise you may have for me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[coozie7]

1: No, although it is a good idea to keep them as similar as possible because Crossfire, like SLI will set the whole system to match the lowest card.
2: You can only use multiple cards from ATI, your MB of choice will not support SLI.
3:I'm not a power user, it looks fine to me-others may disagree.
4: Yes, or you'll lose a lot of memory, especially if you add several graphics cards.
FYI: A 32-bit operating system can only use 4Gb of addresses and Windows allocates those addresses to add in cards and devices first, leaving what is left for data and the OS itself. So two 1Gb graphics cards will 'rob' 2Gb of address space, meaning a 4Gb machine will see just 2Gb (actually it will be a little less).

Modern onboard is more than good enough for headphones or less expensive speaker systems, give it a try, you have nothing to lose.

Card: Either 1Gb HD4970 or HD4890 depending on budget but what work are you going to do? Gaming cards are not first choice for 3D applications and professional cards do not do well with games!