Greetings,

I've been in the process of building a desktop comptuer for about the past year or so. When I began building my system directx 10 cards weren't on the market yet. So I have held off on purchasing them. I am at the point now where I am reading to purchase and want to know, in your opinion, which nvidia cards are the best to run in sli? I would most likely be willing to spend $200 to $300 per card. The system specs are:

Intel Pentium 4 HT (3.2 Ghz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache)
ASUS P5N32 - SLI SE Deluxe motherboard
Enermax NoiseTaker 2 Max 600 Watts
5GB DDR2 240 pin memory
250GB SATA HDD

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

SLI is unnecessary for your system because the CPU will never keep up with one high end video card, let alone two. Unless you're going to update your CPU, I'd say stick with a single 9600GT.

Thanks for the advice. Looking at the system specs, the cpu does seems to be the weakest link. I swear it might have been a half-decent cpu when I started the project two years ago. If I upgrade it, are you thinking something more like one of intel's dual core models?

Yeah. Fortunately you have a relatively high grade motherboard, which supports the newer Core 2 Duos. I'd recommending getting one of those and as I say, a single 9600GT. A far better upgrade than a pair of cards with your existing setup.

Yea. Thanks for the advice. You are right, no sense in spending more than I have to if I can't even get the full usage out of the hardware. What kind of set-up would I have to be looking at to even consider SLI?

Well for a start, to actually make use of SLI (when it works, of course it's not supported by all games) you should be looking at resolutions of 1920x1200 or above typically. A high end dual core CPU like a Core 2 Duo would suffice. You've got plenty of RAM already, although I assume you're using a 64-bit OS, since you can only pick up 3.5 out of your current 5GB in 32-bit windows.

At the point I'm at in the project I have yet to even power up the system. I do have access to a 64 bit vista install, so that's good. I'll have to admit that I haven't read up very much on the dual core processors. What should I be looking at when purchasing one?

Well essentially, the low end models like the E2000 series have small amounts of cache and lower clock speeds, the 6000s are the higher end range, and the new E8200 and E8400 are the top performers.

get a E2160 and a better powersupply and a 9600GT then it's good to go...

You don't even really need a new PSU, the noisetakers aren't that bad.

yeah i didn't check what psu he has. Get a E2160 and 9600GT.

Thanks for all of your advice. I started searching around newegg, checking out all of my cpu options. In terms of making my machine as "future proof" as possible, what would you guys think of intel's E6300 (1.86GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core)? Or is my best bet to stick with intel's E2160 as far as cost-benefit goes?

The E6300 isn't worth the extra, get a 2160 or a 6750.

The E6750 seems like a really nice processor too, especially for the price. I think that I'll make my choice between those two. Thanks again for your help.

no need to thanks, it's our duty to help people who needs help.

Am i right guys?

Yup, it certainly is.