About to order, last thoughts?

[krazyq]

woudlnt it be better if he got the new ati card instead of the 8800gts 512?

 

[gl600]

I don't really see the need for the striker extreme. If you want SLI, I suppose its not a bad choice, although striker extreme + 4GB RAM is not a happy pairing.
so, my suggestions

-Mobo. For SLI, consider that none of the 680i boards support the new 45nm processors, so you won't be able to upgrade in future. Also the EVGA NF-680i might be a better choice. Otherwise there is the new 780i with PCIe2.0 and 45nm compatibility. If you don't care about SLI, get a P35 board (e.g. GA-P35-DS3R, Abit IP35 or Asus P5k), or an X38 board (Asus P5E, Maximus formula).

-There are better CPU HSFs. maybe a Tuniq tower 120.

1) what would be the practical diff b/w the 680i MOBO and the 780i? (i'm relatively new to all this stuff so i don't yet undersatnd all of the technical talk)
2) you are saying to get the tuniq tower 120 instead of what?

Thanks.

P.S. which 780i would you recommend?

 

[stalin90]

a 780i is pretty much a 680i board with pcie 2.0 and support for the new 45nm intel quad core cpus, and imo a better chipset cooler

tuniq tower 120 is a cpu cooler, its pretty much the best out there

get the evga 780i
Newegg.com - EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

[Andyf]

The improvements of the 780i over the 680i are really just in terms of if you plan on upgrading in the future, so if you were instead of the Q6600, to use one of the new CPUs (such as the E8400), you'd either need the 780i, or a good intel based motherboard (P35/X38 etc.). PCIe 2.0 gives larger bandwidth for graphics cards (I think, correct me if I'm wrong anyone), but there is no practical difference between PCIe1.1 and PCIe2.0 at the moment, because no graphics cards even approach straining the PCIe1.1 limit. So its not a worry at the moment.

Why the decision to go Nvidia chipset? unless you actually want to use SLI (the worth of which is in itself, highly debatable), I would strongly advise you to NOT go for an Nvidia chipset and instead go P35 or X38. SLI is the ONLY reason to go for these motherboards. And SLI isn't, in my opinion, a very good option anyway.

The tuniq replaces that Zalman CPU cooler that you mentioned.

 

[Vaanish]

Yeah, just get a nice P35 motherboard such as the MSI P35 Neo2-FR.

 

[veedubfreak]

The 780i is a refined 680i, so in THEORY it should be more stable and less prone to self detination that the 680s had. So far the 780i seems to be rock solid from all of the reading i have done.

 

[krazyq]

i say, get the p35 to save money and get the new ati card!

 

[alexsabree]

same... no point in paying twice the price.. for so little

 

[gl600]

i say, get the p35 to save money and get the new ati card!

what's the new ati card?

 

[gl600]

i say, get the p35 to save money and get the new ati card!

which p35?
and what's the new ati card?