2 X Nvidia 8800gtx Cards (SLI)

Red Fan X5

Hi,
have just gotten these - 2 X Nvidia 8800gtx Cards. I've 2 questions to ask.

Can anyone recommend a decent mobo for these cards (SLI) with what've I got (Core 2 Duo 2.13 & 2 gb Ram).

Could be looking here also at the possibility of including new CPU & RAM as I don't want this upgrade to cost a fortune.
Any solutions to both would be appreciated.
Thanks for looking.
RF

Sqaull20

Man you got some bargain, 170 for both wasn't it?

I had a 650i board for a good while, they can be had for nothing on ebay and no difference in sli performance between them and the newer boards, even though they are only 8x/8x.

Your cpu is fine, overclock it to 3ghz or near it and you are set.I would get another 2 gigs of ram though.

750i board here on komplett for €50, I haven't used these boards but have used 680i and 780i, both were very good and going by reviews 750i is just as good.I buy komplett used and dabs used mobos all the time, they usually dont come with manuals and stuff, but you dont need those.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=356107

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=320721

Red Fan X5

Thanks Squall20.
I have ordered that mobo you said was good, 750i. I was wonder if this PSU
would suffice:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=337116

I also got 4gb of Ram (Cosair) to got with the mobo.

Any further thoughts would be appreciated.

extra-ordinary_

I'd go with a better (read more expensive) PSU for two GTXs

BadCharlie

Same here.
Try and get a better PSU.

TerrorFirmer

I would probably choose either of these three, might as well get a decent supply.

http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4QZW&CategorySelectedId=11259&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11259

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340676

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341178

Anti

TBH from my experience with power supplys more expensive well brandes psu's are always best, but if money is tight just make sure the cheaper psu has all the industry standards certs and it should be fine

Red Fan X5

I got the Cosair TX 650W PSU but it only comes with 2 x PCI-E 8 pin. Question: If each card requires 2 PCI-E connections, should I of bought the Cosair TX 750W with comes with 4 x PCI-E 8 pins or should I buy Molex to PCI-E convertors.
Thanks to all who have posted replies so far.

AlmightyCushion

You should be able to get a molex to pcie 8 pin cable. It will use two molex connections so you'll need four free molex connections in total.

Sqaull20

The Gtx's need 2 x 6.I have the 620watt Corsair psu and have used 2 x 9800gx2, so you will have no problems.They are the best psu's around imo

The Gtx's came boxed with two molex-pci-e adaptors when they came out, I got a few of them in Maplin for a few euro a while back.

Red Fan X5

Sqaull20 wrote: »

The Gtx's need 2 x 6.I have the 620watt Corsair psu and have used 2 x 9800gx2, so you will have no problems.They are the best psu's around imo

The Gtx's came boxed with two molex-pci-e adaptors when they came out, I got a few of them in Maplin for a few euro a while back.

I got the Cards today but they didn't come with molex to Pci-e adaptors.
I think I'll go with the TX750W because I will be using 4 molex connectors which would leave me with 4 and the extra power for € 26 is worth it.
any thoughts??

Sqaull20

Red Fan X5 wrote: »

I got the Cards today but they didn't come with molex to Pci-e adaptors.
I think I'll go with the TX750W because I will be using 4 molex connectors which would leave me with 4 and the extra power for € 26 is worth it.
any thoughts??

Oh yeah go for that one, I thought you already had the 650w.

PogMoThoin

I got that Corsair TX750, nice quiet psu, I highly recommend (got rid of a noisy OCZ 600W GameXtream in favour of it), not being modular is its only drawback, but you'll live with that

Red Fan X5

I haven't got the goods yet but I had a look inside at the case of my current machine. Guess what, the new board won't fit, . Can someone recommend a nice & reasonable priced case for my new set up to include front USB's and with/without memory card reader. NB. I don't want a monster case either,

New Set Up =
MSI P7N Zilent,nF-750i SLI,S-775,ATX,
TX750 W Cosair PSU,
4 Gb RAM, DDR2, PC6400,
2 x nVidia 8800GTX (SLi).
Will have 2 SATA Drives,
1 x DVD Burner,
1 x DVD-Rom,
Possible memory card reader to the front.

AlmightyCushion

I have an antec 900 and it's a pretty sweet case. It's not massive either but it'll fit everything you need alright.

Jack Bracken

The Thermaltake Tsunami is a sweet, decently priced case. Pic of the case itself, and pic of the 2 top-mounted USB ports, mic & speaker jacks and firewire port.

AlmightyCushion

Jack Bracken wrote: »

The Thermaltake Tsunami is a sweet, decently priced case. Pic of the case itself, and pic of the 2 top-mounted USB ports, mic & speaker jacks and firewire port.

I was considering one of those before I decided to get the 900. Nice case. I preferred the look of the antec so that swung it for me.

uberpixie

Jack Bracken wrote: »

The Thermaltake Tsunami is a sweet, decently priced case. Pic of the case itself, and pic of the 2 top-mounted USB ports, mic & speaker jacks and firewire port.

The Tsunami is an OK case.

The best part of it is that its very light which is nice if you are going to a lot of lans, the cooling for it is not bad either.

Otherwise: not great sound proofing, the drive trays for holding the harddrives are made from very cheap metal that warps very easily: had caused my mate a lot of sound issues with vibration from harddrives.

Personally noise bugs me the most when it comes to custom PCs.

I personally would go with an antec p182. (I have an antec p180 which is a farily similar older revision which is a great case.)
Not a flash case, tis a wee bit heavy, but it has fantastic airflow, thick cladding on the case panels which reduce noise from the pc a lot and good cable management.
Not cheap @ €130 but worth it. (it is a fairly tight case on the inside though so you need to take your time to run cables properly when building)

The Antec 900 would be similar and from the same family but has much less sound proofing and less cable management. It still has epic air cooling: much better than the thermaltake.

I would get at least an Antec 900 which is priced around €90 which if you are on a tight budget is a very very good case especially if you are going SLI: you will need all the airflow you can get.

Anti

oh jesus no.. the tsunami is horrible. Its small, cramped and has **** cabeling optins. Antec 900 is a mch better choice. Also the cooling is horrible if you are going with a high end system. And this is comming from someon who owned this and the coolermaster equivilent of the case. void it like the plague. Oh yeah its also really badly put together, lots of jagged edges and panels that dont properly fit.

BadCharlie

Have both tsunami + the antec 900. Antec 900 wins hands down.
Also have the antec 1200 and that i like more then the 900. 1200 is big and would not be great for lans very heavy when you have all your kit inside.