Looking for advice.

[montdj]

Ok its been about 5 years since i built my last computer. Well maybe longer its running a ati 9700 pro. I stopped playing games and everything when my son was born so its been awhile for a update. I started updating my games and soon relized i need a better machine. So here is the start of my research and i have a couple quiestions. Gaming will be the main use of this system. (and i will be overclocking) What i am lest up to speed on is video cards. Like i said the agp 9700 pro was the last card i researched and boy have things changed since then. What is the big advantage of running more than one card and is the trend starting to go away from multiple cards. Ok as for the rest of the system I am leaning towards a intel based system. So lets hear it people. This is going to be a ultimate systems with no cost limit. What would you use or put in. Thank you and this seems to be a awesome site.

 

[montdj]

P.S. Sorry if Im all over the place my son keeps getting up and my mind is in about 5 places right now LOL

 

[Sora]

Well as an ultimate machine your going to want

an E6600 w/Tuniq Tower Cooler
EVGA 680i Motherboard
2x 8800GTX SLI

as the main things...as an ultimate PC with no cost there are going to be debates weither or not you will need the best RAm and blah blah. I say get the best stuff for your money that is still high-end. Not just everything thats the very best and most expensive. For instance the X6800 is the best gaming CPu but after overclocing the E6600 is just as good and 600 less. RAM you can go out there but I would highly suggest G.Skill HZ's. As a motherboard get an EVGA 680i

Like I said you could easily spend 10k on the absolute best parts but get the best that are a good price and still High end like some that I just suggested...i'm going to sleep or I would build an elaborate powerful build. I'll do that tommarow

 

[cwiz]

you will need DDR2 memory to use a skt 775 core 2 duo (intel) or a skt AM2 x2 (AMD) set up. intel has the faster and cheaper chips right now. DDR2 800 should work well for overclocking. the tighter the timing the better

for the graphics card, the nvidia 8800GTX is the best. you can get 2 and run them at the same time (SLI) and get like a 20-25% improvement or so. generally a classic case of diminishing return.
ATI is going to release their "R600" card that is supposed to really give nvidia a run for their money but that is to be seen. when you run 2 ATI cards at the same time it is called CrossFire.

SLI and Crossfire require 2 different types of motherboards. an example of a crossfire board is a Intel BOXD795XBX (see my thread in this forum)

 

[Xandrex]

Gaara has a really good stinky in this forum about SLi and Crossfire. I recommend reading it if you haven't already.

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?threadid=79791

Also, I have been doing research and picking parts the last couple of weeks. With the help of tech-forums, this is what I have come up with:

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio...tNumber=4498752&WishListTitle=new+gaming+comp

I'm still working on cutting cost on a couple of things like the Zalman and thermo case, but cost isn't a factor here. Also, notice this list includes only 1 8800gtx.

 

[Dr DMoney]

I wouldn't get any board that is in the 680i chipset family. They have had tons of problems. If you want the best don't get a 680i board. I would get something different. But if you must get this one. Very ned and much more updated over the last one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188013