Need Help A.S.A.P

[Franco_cov]

I currently have the ABIT IP35 PRO and overclocks nicely however I did not realise it was a crossfire board and not an SLI board. And was looking into water cooling but dont have a lot of space etc.....

So my questions I need answering are as follows:-

1. What other motherboard that has the option for SLI would anyone recommend that would also have the same over clocking potential as the IP35 PRO ???

2. I currently have the Gigabyte Auroa case and currently with the IP35 and my 8800 Ultra and PCI Soundcard etc.. there is not any room for the pump etc for any water cooling and certainly any 2nd Ultra Card. Can anyone suggest me a case that has plenty of space to allow me to have 2 x 8800 ultra cards along with being able to use the available PCI slots (motherboard suggested in question 1 above)This case must be good for ventilation and cooling etc and space.

3. Also before I install Water Cooling what is the best air solution available, I currently use a Zallaman 9500 on my quad 6600 GO chip

4. I have also currently got a Tagan 750W Modualr PSU which has 2 dedicated PCI cables is it a case of buying a further 2 modular cables to plug into the psu to power a second card ?

5. Currently have 4gb (4x1gb) Ballistix 800mhz memory would i need to go for the next one up 1066mhz to remove any bottle neck when raising the FSB for overclocking ?

I thankyou in advance for any help you can give me as at the moment I am stuck for both space and the option of sli so have a few pc builds coming up so will take the opportunity in using my bits for these pc's and using the money to purchase the bits (suggested above) to give me a case with more space to accomodate a sli motherboard that has the same overclocking potential
as my current IP35 Pro and is easy to fit a water cooling system along with using 2 full size 8800 ultra cards and being able to use 2-3 PCI slots on the board.

So Please Help.. Many thanks again. Also any links or pics for the cases and board etc would also help

 

[steve258]

Probably can't go wrong with the ASUS P5N32-E SLI for about the same price.

Most graphics card nowadays should come with the 4-pin molex to PCI-E converter so you shouldn't need to buy any additional cables if you have run out of PCI-E cables.

And no you should be fine with 800Mhz PC6400 RAM unless you intend to do some extreme overclocking (400FSB+). But even then with the nforce chipset mobo you will be able to run RAM unsynchronised with FSB so you can always manually set it to 800Mhz.

That zalman is probably ok to tie you over until your watercooling setup but if you are looking for long term decent air cooler you should be looking at either the Tuniq Tower 120 or the Thermalright Ultra-120/extreme + a 120mm fan of your choice (heatsink does not come with fan).

But before you rush out and get another SLI mobo... What games do you play and at what resolution??? A single 8800Ultra is more than powerful enough for most games (bar crysis!) so you shouldn't need to get a second ultra unless money is no object and you just want the very best out there at the moment.

 

[Franco_cov]

you cant use convertors for the ultra cards i amde that mistake when i had a normal psu thinking i could do that but it did not boot up. Then when reading the small print on the gfx manual it said needs 2 dedicated pci-e power connectors

What about a case ?? and easy watercooling setup thats both easy to setup and is effective

 

[weescott]

Correct Franco cov. The molex connection can't suply enough power. Been there tried that. You might have to go the manufacturer and ask for extra connections. I managed to get some direct from Corsair as I couldn't find any for sale retail. They are like gold dust.

I won't offer a suggestion of a case but I will say make sure it is huuuge. 2 8800 Ultras pump out a lot of heat.

I had 2 8800GTX's in my PC60 with watercooling. It was very tight in there.

For as much fun SLI is, I wouldn't recomend it to anyone. And now 680i wont work with retail Yorkfield is seems even less of a good idea.