Quick motherboard advice for £1k system

[rik]

Looking to purchase the following and was just wondering, although I like the Asus board, it is SLi whereas if I am having an ATi card, I might as well go for a board with crossfire. However all the crossfire boards seem cheaper, does this mean I would be better to keep with the Asus? (Probably won't ever use another card, but it's easier to have the option!!!)

Also would someone recommend a sound card to go with this or other suggested board. Only really need 2.1 sound.

Thankyou all (Good fun this shopping lark when you can finally afford it)

CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£67.95 £67.95
MY-057-OC OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
£144.95 £144.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£35.95 £35.95
HD-018-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA)
£61.95 £61.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£27.95 £27.95
MB-118-AS Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-118-AS)
£119.95 £119.95
CP-150-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM)
£118.95 £118.95
CB-020-GE Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE Cable (0.45m) - Metal Braided (CB-020-GE)
£4.95 £4.95
CB-053-GE Akasa Serial ATA 45cm Silver Data Cable (CB-053-GE)
£3.50 £7.00
GX-048-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£234.95 £234.95
Subtotal £824.55
VAT £144.30

Total £968.85

 

[Ender]

im pretty sure that onboard sound should be enough but if not something like the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM (SC-037-CL) Price: £31.95 (£37.54 Including VAT at 17.5%)
would be fine me thinks

 

[Eliminos]

Assuming you wish to go with ASUS still, the Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS) is a fine board for crossfiring. If you are not at all interested in dual graphics the a8n32 will be fine.

 

[rik]

Cheers, just wondering which board is faster, or does it not make any difference?

 

[Noni]

To shave some money off of that budget I would consider-

This RAM- G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 £129.95

Just one 250GB HD and make a partition.

The crossfire board suggested above, if you want to overclock go for a DFI board.

The DFI boards also come with rounded ATA cables so you wont need to purchase those.

With the money saved, I would seriously consider maybe a dual core setup. If not just money in your pocket

 

[BigDom]

Speed wise the Crossfire boards are very impressive apparantly. There have been reports of issues with the Asus board but I've had no problems with either of mine so would reccomend them.

 

[mattio1980]

the r480 n/b on those boards are rubbish wait for the r580 to turn up

 

[ACESHIGH]

Go for the Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS), it will allow you to go crossfire if you ever want to. It is cheaper as they want to get some market share. It is a good board with good onboard sound..... The onboard 6-channel High Definition audio CODEC enables high-quality ADI AD1986A audio CODEC, which automatically detects and identifies what types of peripherals are plugged into the audio I/O jacks and notifies users of inappropriate connection, meaning there will be no more confusion of Line-in, Line-out and Mic jacks.

The rest of your spec looks good & i would stick with it.

 

[rik]

Morning, thanks for all your help!!