Asus Striker with SLI or Asus PK5 xxx with crossfire?

[webstersp]

First I average when talking about computer, I can build one , install drivers repair them but for overclocking I really suck. I'm building a brand new computer with some help from 2 friends that have differents views...

I want to buy:
*QuadCore Q6600 (2.4) 1066 8M,
*Thermaltake armor case with the 25mm side fan
*4 gb of memory
*2x 500 gig raid 0 WD hard disk
*windows vista
*Asus motherboard: asus striker or 1 of asus p5k crossfire model

So here's my problem one of my friend tells me to SLI and the other to go with Nvidia crossfire. For the first month I'll use my ATI x1900xt 512 ddr3 but want to go SLI or Crossfire with brand new card in 2 months.

SLI:
*Asus Striker
*4 gb OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition ( i think it is a bit too expensive)
* So I choosed 4gb OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 SLI-Ready Edition
*OCZ GameXStream Power Supply (NVIDIA SLI-Ready) 7000w
* 2x nvidia video card (in 2 months)

CROSSFIRE:

Heres what my second friend told me: For direct X 10 ATI are better and you can buy 2 x ATI crossfire card for the same price of the 8800 ultra for a lower price and better performance.
EX: 2x ATI Saphire HD 2900xt

So I would like to know what to do. I have a 2000$ budget without the sound card (already have xi-fi fatality), monitor (have a 22 inch but plan of getting one bigger later) and will use my ATI for 1 or 2 months before buying new video cards..

Need help!!

 

[grieve]

Go for the Striker, at this moment Nvidia destroys ATI... SLI 4 the win

 

[Maziar]

another vote for STRIKER, but why dont u save some money and get a P5N32SLI-E or P5N32SLI-E PLUS ?

 

[webstersp]

P5N32SLI-E or P5N32SLI-E PLUS, I like the idea to save money
So what would be the main difference between the striker and one of these?

 

[Maziar]

the striker has some extra features , here is the linke of all :
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=397&model=1439&modelmenu=1

P5N32SLI-E : (actually P5N32-E SLI )
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=397&l4=0&model=1459&modelmenu=1

P5N32-E SLI PLUS :
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=495

 

[WR2]

The Striker has LEDs on the motherboard, fancy heatpipes & also has some tiny LCD displays. What it doesnt have is better peformance than the other 2 boards. The Plus in P5N32-E SLI PLUS is that its two PCI-E slots run at x16 speed vs the usual 650i x8 when running SLI. Not that it makes any real performance difference.
Striker Extreme $300 vs $125 P5N-E SLI Read the whole review to see how the $300 board stacks up against the $125 motherboard.
4 Asus MBs $125-$300 compared side by side

Comparing 2 CF ATI Saphire HD 2900XT against 1 8800Ultra is the wrong comparison. You should be comparing 2 SLI 8800GTS against the 2 CF HD 2900XT. Even 2 CF 2900XT rarely beat 1 8800Ultra in actual game play. ATI can win in benchmarks like 3D Mark but rarely wins in actual games (but there are exceptions in specific games).
Check the THG Video charts for a better comparison.
2900XT CF vs 8800GTS SLI in 19x12 Battlefield 2142
Since you'll be using the x1900xt for a few months you'll have time to see the new sets of benchmarks when the next ATI and nVidia cards are released (probably in time for Christmas shopping).

Don't go Raid 0. The performance gain is very small and you won't see any better game performance (except possibly slightly faster loading).
-> One 500GB HD is plenty to start out. You can always add more storage later.

If you're getting Vista 32bit 2GB RAM is all you'll want. Even if you get Vista 64 2GB RAM is enough to start out with - you can always add more later.

 

[webstersp]

Nice I'll take the p5n-E SLI motherboard.
I'l get 4gb of memory, wich one should I take to go best with this motherboard!?

 

[moose64]

Go with P5N32-E SLI motherboard it 680i and does what the Striker does I have it with a C2D 6700,4G ram,2x150G Raptors in 0 raid and a 8800GTX.

 

[Maziar]

P5N-E SLI is good too , but if u want to go SLI, then i suggest P5N32- SLI as moose64 said