Help with DVI and SLi

[wtk pro l]

hi, i am building a pc and i am fairly new to this. so far i have amd athlon 3700+ and ASUS 8AN-SLi. but i have a question what is the difference between SLi and regular PCI Express. Also all the graphic or video cards i have looked at have DVI and no VGA output. Is the DVI better or something and how can i get my VGA monitor to hook up to the two DVI ports? thanks

 

[Trifid]

Converters are always supplied with the card for VGA.

SLI is having two PCI express video cards hooked up with the supplied bridge. Don't waste money in SLI unles you have won the lottery.

 

[wtk pro l]

ha ok, thanks. so they really is no need in SLi. it doesnt perform any better?

 

[Trifid]

It does, but you don't gain enough of a performance increase for paying 200% more.

 

[wtk pro l]

ok i might get it. its only like 20 bucks more. but then again, i wouldnt know how to install my graphics card with the two PCI express ports.

 

[dubbs]

Well, thats the thing.. SLi = 2 Graphics cards. 1 card per PCI-E slot. They are linked with a bridge that slides onto connectors on top of the cards. But don't waste ur money on it.

Your looking at a 30% increase tops with 2 cards. A difference of maybe 15-30 fps.

 

[wtk pro l]

ok can i buy the SLi mobo, install one graphics card in the PCI Express then when i have enough money buy another card, and install both of them into two of the Express slots? or will an SLi board only run on two graphics cards. thanks

also is there a huge difference between the athlon 3500+ and the 3700+? it could save me some money so i need to know. thanks for all you guys help.

 

[dubbs]

The mobo can run on 1 card just fine. Yes you can add one later.

Its only a 200 mhz difference. You probably wouldn't even notice the difference. If you wanted you could overclock it to 2.4ghz but I would concentrate on just building the pc and getting it working first.

It depends on the price difference.. I wouldnt pay more then 20$ for a 200 mhz increase.

Try to do some reading and research pc building if you can.

 

[wtk pro l]

ok thanks im pretty sure im going to go with the 3500+. but are gigabyte mobo stable for overclocking, i heard MSI or ASUS were much better for overclocking (the CPU). i have talked to some people and they said they often get crashes when they try to oveclock their gigabyte mobos.

 

[Trifid]

DFI is the king for overclocking, with the top end ASUS A8N mobos in a close second.

The 3700 has 1mb cache where as the 3500 has 512, try and squeeze a 3700 in the budget, but if it means skimping on the PSU or getting a lower powered card then don't.