New build - opinions please

Ok so I basically HAVE to build I new computer ... long story. To bad I haven't been paying real close attention to hardware lately.

I'm trying to figure out which motherboard to get. I want to go with Asus (because I always have and you know), SLI is not a must but you cant get away from it, and I want one with the nForce 590 chipset.

I had planned on going ATI for my next build but since they haven't release their DX10 cards yet ... I'm not.

My choices seem to be the A2M Crosshair, A2M32-Deluxe (and wireless edition), A2M32 WS Pro.

To be honest I am having a hard time setting them apart. The Crosshair seems to be the same as the A2M32-D only with better onboard audio, which I don't care about. It does have a cool display screen on it though that makes me want this board.

Now Tomshardware review said that the A2M32-D (non wireless) comes with a wireless attachment anyways so I can't see bothering with the wireless edition.

Now the A2M32 WS Pro has 2 PCI-x slots. Will PCI cards work in those? I would enjoy having PCI-x slots as my audio card can use them.

It was dissapointing to see that all the boards only have 1 IDE header. I know its old tech now but I still like to have ATLEAST 2 DVD drives and its nice to have them on seperate headers.

Otherwise here is my tentative setup. Chances are it will change ... I don't want to spend to much more than $3000 CAD but this setup is only 2300 right now and I know I can find better prices.

Asus motherboard
AMD Athlon 5200+X2
OCZ Gold (or Platinum since the price diff is minimal) 800mHz DDR2 (2gb) - For this I am unsure weather I should go 4x 512mb modules or 2x 1gb modules. The price actually seems cheaper for 4x 512mb and the timings aren't are good on 1gb modules are they?.
2x 500gb Western Digital SATA II
Geforce 8800GTS
Seasonic S12 600w modular
M-audio Delta 1010LT
Havent decided on a case. I like alot of the sleek minimalistic style server cases but I also like to have a window and most of the windowed cases look like something out of transformers lol.

Really I am trying to rebuild the computer I knew only upgraded. heh. I haven't bothered budgeting anything for fancy cooling since I don't feel the need to overclock this build at all.

I dunno, any opinion are greatly appreciated.

I will probably have many more questions so I am just going to use this thread instead of make several.

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M/B: Sounds like the A2M32-D has everything you want. If your not planning on using the wireless with this computer then don't bother getting it. Especially if it has an attachment option you can add later.
RAM: Do you think your going to upgrade to 4GB? if so I'd do 2x1GB, otherwise 4x512MB will give your RAM more pathways and less bottleneck on the board.
Case: Just look around there's many cases that matches your criteria and they usually are around $50 (american).

And, last I checked no PCI does not work on PCI-X. But I'm not sure, so don't quote me on it.

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Well wireless is always nice to have .... I think your right, if PCI-x won't work with PCI cards than I dont want the WS PRO board. (of course if it does than I really want it).

As for ram, well who can say. If I have this computer for a long time I will want to beable to shove as much memory in as I can but with this build I want to get the best I can right now. (and can afford of course)

I am also wondering if I shouldn't change my HDD choices. Instead of going for two 500s maybe I should go for 160/320/500.

The 160 holding operating systems, 320 for programs, and 500 for files.

-or-

the 320 for OS and progams, 160 for audio programs and 500 for files.

160 is way more than I need for maybe XP, XP 64 and a Linux distro but its the smallest I can find! and 320 ... well I almost filled a 200gb with programs before.

someone actually tried to tell me that 4x 512mb modules would lower preformance compared to 2x 1gb modules because some boards lower the bandwidth when all 4 slots are populated. I dunno I have heard of that but I don't think it would be lowered enough to cancel out the fact that you basically overall have twice the bandwidth over 2x 1gb

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hmm, the M2N Deluxe is out, it has the 570 chipset instead of the 590. Not a big difference but I may as well pay the extra $50 or so and get the wireless edition or crosshair which have the 590.

Also this may sound silly but would I be better getting a geforce 7950gt 512mb over a geforce 8800GTS OC 320mb? From what I understand the 8 series 320mb is a 256mb card with an phyiscs processor which uses the rest of the ram.

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w00t just bought a wireless-N router and the 500gb harddrive today.

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I don't know how the physics card works but I would assume the series 8 card would be very nice to have.

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Ya your right

Its worth it for unified shader Architecture alone

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Why are you gettting the A2M processor?

As far as I know the pci-e 1x... etc do not work with the standard pci.

My next board is going to be a DFI board because of the options they offer. :S


And for my hdd setup Im going to have four 500 gig drives (possibly 750gb) in a raid 0+1.

Thats what Im doing/suggesting.

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Why AM2 in what way?

If I went intel I could get a better processor yes but I just like AMD to much. heh. Sad I know but I can still get a kick *** CPU.

not pci-e1x, pci-x (the one after pci and before pci-e )

wow 4 500gb harddrives ... lol thats crazy. What are you doing with all that space? (not that I couldn't fill it ...)

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All right fanboy stay with your AMD processor

Gerr... Im getting my pci's mixed up :S

1TB of disk space, lots and lots of keyboard drivers

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