Critique this SLI build

F

fitz

n00b
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
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6
I need a stable powerhouse system that will last many years and be able to handle any video editing, VCR/DVD rips, and games I throw at it. This is what I've come up with:

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium nForce4
Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo / Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro / Arctic Silver 5
(2) ASUS Geforce 7900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E x16
(4) sticks Crucial 1GB 184-Pin DDR 400 (PC 3200)
(2) HITACHI Deskstar 7K500 HDS725050KLA360 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
(2) LITE-ON 16X DVD±R Burner SHM-165P6S
SB Audigy2 ZS
Logitech THX Z-5300e 280 Watts RMS 5.1 Speakers
Silverstone Zeus 650W PSU
Lian Li Case w/ (4) 80mm fans
APC 780W UPS

From my research and experience, all should be compatible. Anything I'm overlooking?
 
It'll last you for as long as you let it. But with DX10 and Vista coming next year, nothing's for certain.
 
lots of good stuff...big splurge, but im pretty sure that xp can only use up to 3gb of ram while x64 can use up to 4gb, someone correct me if im wrong w/ this
btw, why do u need 4gb of ram? :p
 
I would try not to use 4gb anyhow, filling all four banks on an Athlon 64 system forces a 2t command rate, besides for now 2gb is more then enough.
 
Ditch the 4GB of RAM. You don't need that much unless you're using a workstation. Besides, this thread explains why 4GB RAM is wasted in today's 32-bit OSes...
 
I would dump the Audigy2. I had one for a short time, and it sounded like crap. True, it improved the performance a tad by relieving the CPU of some of the work it had to do, but it sounded like garbage.

I have been much happier with the X-Fi. I believe the X-Fi ExtreMusic edition is around $110 or so, which is about 3x the cost of the Audigy2, but you will appreciate much better, I assure you.

I would agree that 4GB is a bit excessive, unless you are doing some seriously huge workstation work (like massive autocad drawings or horrendously complex maya scenes). If you do rethink your memory, go with matched pairs (twinx from corsair, not sure what crucial calls theirs).

There are far better DVDRWs than LITE-ON. The NEC 3550A is good, as is the Pioneer 111D, both of which are about the same price as the LITE-ON.

Regarding the 80mm fans: unless you enjoy working in a noisy environment, i wouldn't do it. I switched a while back from an Antec PlusviewAMG with 2 x 80mm fans to an Antec P160 with 2 x 120mm fans, and life is much better...much quieter.

If you really want to future-proof this thing, swap out the A8N-SLI Premium for an A8N32-SLI Deluxe. ~$75 difference I know, but it will give you that breathing room (several years from now). Also, it might be a good idea to get a single 7900GTX instead of the dual 7900GT, so that you only have to buy one video card (later on) to upgrade. You may even save some cash that way.
 
HaMMerHeD said:
If you really want to future-proof this thing, swap out the A8N-SLI Premium for an A8N32-SLI Deluxe. ~$75 difference I know, but it will give you that breathing room (several years from now).
Click to expand...

+1 The A8N32-SLI also offers true 16X to each card in SLI whereas the A8N-SLI will only offer 8X.
 
I don't really need 4GB RAM, I was thinking it would help with video editing (which I won't really be doing that much of anyways) so I will go with 2GB RAM per your guys advice.

Hammerhed, the X-Fi XtremeMusic card you suggested looks sick! It wasn't priced that much over the Z2. At Newegg, the Z2 is $75, XtremeMusic $122.

My revised build:

A8N32-SLI Deluxe
(1) ASUS 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E x16
(2) x 1GB crucial RAM
X-Fi XtremeMusic
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS

Spec'd @ Newegg, original build = $2845

Revised build = $2,692

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. I learned a lot of good stuff and will save some bucks.
 
Need to mention another thing: I'm a backup freak so I'm thinking of configuring my HDDs in RAID 1. I know I won't get the performance as RAID 0, but it will save me time from doing manual backups & imaging.

If a drive dies, it would be nice to be able to immediately use the other one until I purchase a replacement. Would configuring in RAID 1 make it that easy?
 
i know this is not needed but if i were you id wait patiently for conroe :p
 
Sovereign said:
Haha funny that you're looking at the same case as me....
Click to expand...

Actually I read your RateMyRig post and liked it better than the one I was looking at :D
 
Your best bet as always is to never think of your machine as one purchase and trying to future proof it is silly. No need to buy tomorrow's technology at today's prices. I'd stick with a cheaper processor and bother with the faster X2 down the road when people are selling them for cheap as they migrate to AM2. Otherwise, you'll be spending lots of money now to buy the end of life processor for the 939 platform.

I would recommend going with one fast x1900xt card. nV right now can't do AA, Aniso and HDR together. I should also point out that the PSU, two video cards and 4 case fans is going to make that a loud setup. You might want to figure out ways to quiet it down.
 
Ditch the Zeus 650, and pick up the Strider 600. It's exactly the same, except it uses a 120mm instead of an 80mm fan, and is modular.
 
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