Any Help Appreciated

[Deiahova]

First off, I am new to building a PC. I've just tinked with the insides (upgrading RAM, video card etc)

So I am thinking about building a mid-range gaming PC for ~$700-800.

I have my Antec case, 500W Power supply, optical drives and LCD already, so I'm looking at a new mobo, RAM, videocard, processor and HD.


AMD 64X2 6000+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773

probably Crucial BallistiX RAM (2x1gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

One of the 8800GT cards (kinda whatever is available since their always sold out, but if some are better than others any help is appreciated)

probably a 500GB SATA HD (any help on brand? or does it not matter?)

The thing I am most confused on is the motherboard. I think I want SLI, in case i get another 8800GT, and one thing i was reading was the ASUS boards wouldnt set the RAM voltage higher than 1.95V and some seem to require 2-2.2V, so I was looking at a Gigabyte SLI nForce570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128014
But I really don't know.

Also, is the heatsink/fan that comes with the processor sufficient if I don't OC it?

I was also wondering how Vista vs. XP affected game play (tax on processor, ram etc), still have an Xp install lying around somewhere, but will eventually need Vista for Direct X10...maybe dual boot. I dunno.

Thank you in advance for any and all help!

 

[dwthor02]

the 6000 is pretty cheap and a solid processor....u could look at the 6400 if u want a little bit better performance but the 6000 is fine. with the 8800 gt you get performance/value. both board should be fine i have m2n-32sli deluxe wireless edition and it works just fine although from what ive read and heard gigabyte board work just as well. the amd heat sync works just fine. i ran the stock heat sync and even oc'd it and it was just fine. if u have your heart set on vista then def run a dual boot. xp isnt the system hog like vista is and there isnt that much of a difference with dx9.0c and 10

 

[akhilles]

Only nf 590 sli does x16 sli, but the rest don't.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce5_features_amd.html

Why are you buying AM2 board anyway? The thing most people don't know about is that if you buy an AM2 board + Phenom (not your plan, I know), you will need an AM2 cpu to update the bios.

Look at ASUS M3A. It's backward compatible. Only 1 pci-e. I don't think you need 2 x 8800gt. What's your monitor resolution? You can always upgrade to a more powerful single gpu.