Please critique my parts list, too...

[Uncle Fud]

Looking to build a medium priced rig for audio/video editing and some (not bleeding edge) gaming. (This is my first build of a complete system although I have been swapping out drives and cards for years).

Here's what I've come up with:

Mobo: ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor
RAM: CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
Case: Antec Sonata III Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply
Video: XFX PVT80GGHF4 GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express
HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

Everything else can be salvaged from an existing system or the parts box......

Total price about $1200 at Newegg. I could go another $200 on these components but that's about the top of my budget for the initial build.

I'lll be looking at the possibility of more RAM and a faster second HDD as an upgrade once I get her up and running.

[Devastator]

All seems good but:

Why get a SLI mobo when your not going to do SLI now, and really it's not worth it anyway.
Most people reccomend Seagate here instead of Western Digital, but I'd buy the WD too.
EVGA is probably a better make of Graphics card and your less likely to have problems with them.
If your salvaging an old DVD/CD drive is it SATA? If not you'd be better off picking a new one up as your new mobo doesn't have IDE support except 3rd party.

The case is a great choice, seems lots of people have gone for it since I gave it a mention My only concern is that the 500W PSU might only just be enough for the 8800GTS, but I don't know, someone more experienced than me could tell you.

[Uncle Fud]

"Why get a SLI mobo ....... really it's not worth it anyway."

Can you direct me to a good discussion of that point?

Thanks for the feedback.....

[Devastator]

I guess your asking me for a link of people who also agree SLi isn't worth it? Simply look down the whole Build Your Own section and you will find most people staying away from SLi.

Otherwise I think your on track for a great PC.

[shadowpr]

Here is a link that you can look at performance of the single card, and at dual cards.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

Odds are, if you're not buying them both together, you won't do it. By the time you're ready to, there's already a newer card that wil out perform the ones you have.

[Katreat]

The short answer is SLI was developed to make the best better. If you take two of the fastest cards out and put them in SLI they will be faster than one.

However, as an upgrade path it is not very effective. History has shown that the next generation will always beat two of the last generation. For that matter, the current GTX is almost twice as powerful as the GTS so assuming you get a 50% increase in speed on average through SLI you would not even beat the fastest card in the current generation.

Other problems you face in going SLI include having to find an identical video card down the road (it must be identical) and needing a bigger PSU (your chosen 500 watt unit can not run two 8800 GTS’s in SLI, you would need 650+ watts and a certified unit).

So, unless you are doing SLI to make the fastest faster, it is generally recommended just to upgrade when the time comes to a newer more powerful card. You will be money ahead and have a faster system in the long run. You can even recoup some of your expense by selling your old card on Ebay to someone who went SLI and cant find an identical card at any of the stores any longer.

As for your system specs:

If you decide not to go SLI I would look at the Asus P5K Mobo. It has the newer P35 chip set that will take advantage of the 1333 FSB speed of your chosen processor. I would drop down to Corsair XMS 800 ram unless you are planning on OC’ing the system. The faster ram will not provide any advantage unless you OC the processor. The 500 w PSU in the Antec case should power your system but will not provide much headroom. If you are really going SLI you need something bigger. Check out this site

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

Video cards seems fine although most on this site recommend the EVGA for quality. I have heard good things about XFX also though so really up to you. Same goes for the WD drives. I like the 5 year warrenty of the Seagates, two more years than WD, but I think they are both quality so your choice. I think the sweet spot is around 320 GB, best bang for the buck, but if you need that much space then go for it.

Kat

[Uncle Fud]

Thanks all.

Based on feedback here and other browsing in the forum, I'm going with

Case - Antec Sonata III
Mobo - ASUS P5K-VM
CPU - Intel E6750 2.66Ghz
RAM - 4 Gig G.Skill DDR2 800
Video - EVGA 8800GTS 320 Mb
HDD 2 x WD Caviar 750 Gb

Total price $1260 for the lot. I'm pretty happy with that.......

[Katreat]

You will need a 64 bit OS to recognize more than 3.2 gigs of ram. I would go Vista just because XP64 was never very well supported. I have heard support is a little slow from Vista also but there are a few on these boards that have been running it successfully so it should be ok for most programs. If you are planning on a 32 bit OS then drop down to 2 gigs of ram.

[wildfire]

I'd suggest you look at corsair xms2 cas 5 ram instead of g skill ram. Also, you should check out seagtes 750gb hard drive because they're cheaper and are really good quality.