2x 6600GT Vs SLi

[v6steve]

Right guys,
I know a fair bit about computers but i've never built one before and i'm about to start building my first one.

The spec i've decided on is:

AMD Athlon 3800+ overclocked to about 2.8 Ghz
nForce 4 chipset motherboard with SLi (any suggestions?)
1024 Mb DDR PC3200 RAM
74 Gb 10,000 rpm SATA hard Drive

What i'm curious to know is:
Would two 6600GT (128mb) graphics card linked in SLi be better than having one 6800GT?
I can't afford 2 6800GT but I might be able to afford 1 6800GT Ultra.
Is the Athlon 4000+ really worth the extra $100, I know its got 1mb L2 cache but how would that compare to an overclocked 3800+?
Also, I'm going to uprate the cooling when I overclock the processor. Is it worth investing in watercooling or will an advanced air cooling system be enough.

Sorry for all the questions but I wanna make sure I get this right.
Any feedback's appreciated.

P.s Does anyone know of a motherboard with nForce4, SLi and DDR2 Ram capability?

 

[SHAWN]

one 6800GT is fine and more cost effective

 

[jolancer]

I have not researched watercooling pricess at all, so i couldnt advise in that way. but i will give my advice...

if im rong someone just correct me.. more important then the form of cooling, is properly applying the the thermal compound between the Heatsink device and the cpu core. example - an air cooled HSF with thermal compound propperly applyed would probably show better resaults then a watercooling block with thermal compound not properly applyed.

 

[idiotec]

From what I have seen 1x 6800GT/Ultra outperform 2 x 6600GT's.

 

[Him]

When applying thermal compound, you will get one of two outcome; It will work, or it wont. If you dont apply it right, your cpu will overheat. If you do put it on right, it wont overheat.

I have also seen one 6800GT out performing 2x 6600GT's. SLi is a dying technology. Intel has said that they do not like it, and are slowly doing away with it. It has many flaws. In theory it should work great, but it dosent. It should give you twice the performance, but it dosent. The perfomance increase is slightly noticable, but not too much. Go for the 6800GT, and if you want to go with SLi, save for another 6800GT.

The DFI Lanparty with the NF4 chipset is possibly the best mobo for an AMD you can get. Which AMD were you looking to get? The clawhammer, venice, what? If you are going to OC, go with the Venice. I would recommend the AMD 64 Venice 3200+ ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535 ) if you look at how much of a price difference there is for any chip above that, it seems extremely superfluous.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152 (mobo)

At this point, it is not avisable to get DDR2. It is hugely overpriced, and dosent give you that much of a performance increase. Stick with DDR, Hyper Transport more than makes up for the non DDR2 memory. AMD platforms do not even yet support DDR2.

Also, I'm going to uprate the cooling when I overclock the processor. Is it worth investing in watercooling or will an advanced air cooling system be enough.

It really depends on how advance. It is advisable to go with water cooling when Ocing. But if you really know what you are doing, you can totally get away with advaned air cooling. But if I were you, I would go with a really nice water cooling setup, possibly like the Aquarius III.
http://coolerguys.com/840556018438.html

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Him, AMD cant even support DDR2.....