Sorry, another spec check...

HummuH1 · 2 Sep 2007 at 12:00

Wanting to build a new gaming rig, my starting spec is as per image:

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Plan is to use for gaming mostly, with the addition of an HD-DVD drive in due course. I'll be using an exiting DVD RW in the meantime.

I'll be running everyhting at std spec at the outset but may look into OC'ing later. Assuming addirional cooling is added, is the spec above OK to OC'ing?

A couple of Q's though:

1. Will the board handle SLI, if needed at a later date? On the Asus website, it confirms Crossfire, but not specific about SLI. Also, will the 520W be enought to cope with a 2nd 8800GTX, for example?

2. I'm hoping to use the two HDD's in a RAID 0 config. Is it possible to add a later HDD and have a selectable bootable OS on it (i.e. to choose whether to boot using XP or Vista)?

Would really welcome any comments/change suggestions.

Ta.

stickroad · 2 Sep 2007 at 12:02

That board is DDR3, you want the DDR2 version of the board.

No it wont allow for SLI, but SLI is carp at the moment.

You may want to add a card later on but by that time your GTX will be old tech.

semi-pro waster · 2 Sep 2007 at 12:07

Crossfire and SLi are two competing technologies and to all intents and purposes not interchangeable in the least (I know that some technically can but it is a bit of a fudge and not common enough to be worth considering) so Crossfire would be your option with a P35 based motherboard. 520w would probably be pushing it for a dual graphics card system, good though the HX 520w is that is still likely to be on the limit. However as stickroad says it probably isn't worth worrying about anyway.

You should be able to set up a boot menu to select which OS you want, remember backups though, particularly with a Raid0 array.

HummuH1 · 2 Sep 2007 at 13:59

Thanks Guys.

I assume there will be a obvious DDR2 version.

If you were to go for an good P35 SLI board, what would you go for?

semi-pro waster · 2 Sep 2007 at 14:24

You can't get a P35 SLi motherboard, the chipset is different, you would need an Nforce 680i (or 650i if you didn't mind that SLi is at 8x rather than the full 16x) based motherboard. I'd just buy a decent P35 based motherboard and ignore the idea of dual graphics cards, for the majority of people who don't have huge monitors there is no point in it.

HummuH1 · 2 Sep 2007 at 14:49

semi-pro waster said:
You can't get a P35 SLi motherboard, the chipset is different, you would need an Nforce 680i (or 650i if you didn't mind that SLi is at 8x rather than the full 16x) based motherboard. I'd just buy a decent P35 based motherboard and ignore the idea of dual graphics cards, for the majority of people who don't have huge monitors there is no point in it.

Cheers.

I plan to use the unit to use sometimes to run 720p/1080p video to HDTV and also use the HD TV's for gaming sometimes. Is a single GTX up to that?

semi-pro waster · 2 Sep 2007 at 15:45

I'm afraid I don't know too much about HDTV but I'd imagine that a single GTX is more than up to it. Maybe have a check in the Audio and Visual or graphics cards sub-forums for more information on it.