Cheapest possible SLI spec?

Brig

Brig

Brig

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Joined
9 Mar 2007
Posts
78
Hello

I've been out of touch with PC specs for a very long time so thought I'd ask for some advice here.

I'm currently using a Socket A AMD XP 3200 on a Gigabyte Nforce1 board with 1 gig of ram and a Nvidia 6800GS AGP.

Yesterday this PC suddenly died, not sure yet what's wrong but this gives me a reason to get a new one :D

It doesn't need to be anything very powerful as the only game I'm really playing is EverQuest and it's a very old game that's not too hard to run. My current PC ran it pretty well. I would like to put this together something as cheap as possible but still a decent machine.

Only requirement I really have is that I'd like an SLi board, a Core 2 Duo CPU and an Nvidia graphic card(been looking at the 8800GT or GTS).

I haven't really done any research yet so maybe you can't even get Intel CPU's on a SLi board please forgive me if that's the case.

So what I need is,

  • Motherboard
  • CPU
  • CPU cooler
  • RAM
  • Graphic card
  • Hard drive
  • Case
  • Got a 500W 30A PSU already that I hope should be enough

I got monitor, keyboard and mouse already.

Would be grateful for any help!

EDIT: Forgot to say that I won't use the SLi feature straight away, it's just that I'd like to have it for the future so only 1 graphic card is needed at the moment.
If you think going for an SLi board is a waste and I can get cheaper and better otherwise please let me know!

Thanks!
 
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sli is not worth it.
the money would be better spent elsewhere

a good motherboard will form the basis of the rest of your systems performance
i would recomend an 8800 gt if thats what you are looking for anyway
my workmate has one and they are really good value 4£
and they annihilate older games

other than that - just try to get the highest spec cpu etc for your budget
 
guy who posted the system spec is spot on
my preference would dictate that i got the 512 version of the 8800GT and a good power supply. the 8800 will do you more justice with the higher ram
and a decent psu will ensure that whatever happened to your old rig [sounds like a psu failure or fried chipset] doesnt happen to this one

godd luck and enjoy building
 
I wouldn't say personally SLI is a waste... but currently the only game that is worth SLIing 8 series cards for is Crysis if you want to play Ultra High detail and not be struggling along at 25ps... or myabe BioShock if you wanted to play at a very high res.

I would reccomend a P35 board unless you are sold on SLI then you'd need an expensive 680i board to really make SLI worth it... and by the time you come to SLIing another 8 series card theres likely to be new cards out that are as fast or slightly faster out than your 2x 8 series that don't have the disadvantage of SLI.

A good PSU is a must imo and 512Mb version of the 8800GT would be much better as 256Mb just doesn't do it justice in newer games.
 
Thanks so much guys! That list of parts looks very good.

As I said it was a long time since I was seriously looking at PC building and at that time SLi was the thing to have :rolleyes:

I probably won't be overclocking, at least not from the beginning.

I probably won't be able to buy all the part straight away but have to spread them out over a few months. Will these parts still be OK in say 3 months time?

(I have another spare PC untill this new one is ready so I'm not in a super hurry)

Thanks again!
 
If you can wait, do. Prices always come down over the long term. Instead of buying a little bit here and there, save it all until the end and buy at once. You'll save money on shipping charges and you'll probably end up with a better rig since new CPUs and graphics cards are coming out in the near future.

Ask again for a spec once you're ready to buy since the market changes so fast. :)
 
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