[tardster]

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie here. I was hoping to get your opinions on the system I want to build. The only thing I have yet to pick out is the CPU fan, so maybe you guys could give me an idea of a good fan to keep my CPU cool. This will be my x-mas present to myself, so let me know what you think.... Thanks Ed

XFX nForce 780i 3-way SLI motherboard
2x XFX GeForce 9800 GTX 512 mb video cards
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz CPU
8GB of Corsair dual channel PC6400 DDR2 800MHz memory
2x 500 GIG WD Caviar HDDS
CoolerMaster CM690 ATX Case
Ultra 750 Watta PSU
Vista Ultimate 64bit Edition

[katana]

the stock cpu cooler should be good nough unless you plan on overclocking it.
and with those specs you definately dont need to overclock.
i envy your setup.

[Carbon]

Way too much money for way too little performance. Minus the horrid nVidia chipset and the (likely overkill) RAM, SLIing 9800GTX cards is going to be a tremendously bad decision as they're glorified 8800GTS which is a last generation card. That power supply will also explode.

Try E8400/P45-UD3P/Corsair 650W/4GB/GTX 260 Core 216/2x 640GB WD Black/Xigmatek HDT-S1283 and a retention bracket instead. That should cost much less and give you much better performance and stability. Invest the savings in a new monitor if you're running anything below 1920x1080: 22" monitors that run that res are $250, 24" monitors that run 1920x1200 are around $325.

[tardster]

Is this just a ATI fan downing a Nvidia set-up? I've never really had any problems with either brand but the set-up I mentioned will only run around $800-$900 ish. I do plan on SLI'ing a 3rd card, but just not at this time. I already have a 22 inch 1680x1024? if I remember correct which, I caught on sale at Office Depot for $129 bucks. I mean I'm not some super human gamer or anything like that, I'm just lookin for a good all-around system I can use for whatever and still be able to play games on.

[tardster]

Carbon I went and checked at newegg the system you posted in your post. Right now it sits about $450 more than the system I asked about and thats without a case. I mean is there really going to be that noticable of a differance between the two of them?

[tardster]

One more quickie for you guys. The cpu cooler/fan I was thinking about getting is a Masscool 8WA741, is it any good? thanks again

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by tardster

Is this just a ATI fan downing a Nvidia set-up?

No, this is a common sense fan downing a bad setup, accusing people of fanboyism while requesting their help on a volunteer basis will get you absolutely nowhere.

I've never really had any problems with either brand but the set-up I mentioned will only run around $800-$900 ish. I do plan on SLI'ing a 3rd card, but just not at this time. I already have a 22 inch 1680x1024?

Again, this is not a good idea at all and a single card will destroy any SLI setup. SLIing a card will reduce it to roughly 30%-40% of its total capacity if used in a single card configuration. Multi-card setups are only useful for those at 1920x1200 or higher and even then a single GTX 280 is more than enough for most users.

Originally Posted by tardster

Carbon I went and checked at newegg the system you posted in your post. Right now it sits about $450 more than the system I asked about and thats without a case. I mean is there really going to be that noticable of a differance between the two of them?

Then don't go so high end. Your monitor only requires at most a GTX 260 original, if not a 4850 should be fine. It should not cost $450 more in the first place anyway.

Originally Posted by tardster

One more quickie for you guys. The cpu cooler/fan I was thinking about getting is a Masscool 8WA741, is it any good? thanks again

No, it isn't. Stick with the OEM.

[tardster]

Originally Posted by Carbon

No, this is a common sense fan downing a bad setup, accusing people of fanboyism while requesting their help on a volunteer basis will get you absolutely nowhere.


Again, this is not a good idea at all and a single card will destroy any SLI setup. SLIing a card will reduce it to roughly 30%-40% of its total capacity if used in a single card configuration. Multi-card setups are only useful for those at 1920x1200 or higher and even then a single GTX 280 is more than enough for most users.


No, it isn't. Stick with the OEM.

I never accused you, I was just simply asking. If I hurt your feelings I am sorry and I'll buy you a box of tissues.


Now this is confusing, how would a single card setup destroy a multi card setup? Watching the video on tiger directs site about the motherboard it said with the 3 sli cards going at the 1680x1024 you should get around 96 frames per second (if I heard it correctly) when your playing brothers in arms hells highway but your saying that one of those other 2 cards will do the same or even better correct?


So that fan wont cool of the CPU any better than a stock CPU fan?

[Razer]

Doesnt putting cards in SLi take the PCI-e speed from 16x to 8x? or is this something that was flown over the internet by ATi fanboys?

The system you mocked up is good, theres no doubt there but you could save yourself a few dollars and get yourself an almost equal performance, listen to some of the guys here they (seem =P) to know what they are on about. Whichever system you buy though with those specs is going to be pretty good! I was hoping for something similar to yours so post back and tell us how it runs!

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by tardster

Now this is confusing, how would a single card setup destroy a multi card setup? Watching the video on tiger directs site about the motherboard it said with the 3 sli cards going at the 1680x1024 you should get around 96 frames per second (if I heard it correctly) when your playing brothers in arms hells highway but your saying that one of those other 2 cards will do the same or even better correct?

Yes. You can either pay over $400 for some ELITE GAMERZZZ SLI setup or pay less than half for the same performance.

Doesnt putting cards in SLi take the PCI-e speed from 16x to 8x? or is this something that was flown over the internet by ATi fanboys?

No, but it's still horribly inefficient.