NINaudio

If you can find a cheap x2 or opteron I'd say grab that for now as a holdover. I've been very tempted to build a conroe setup, but what I have now will definitely hold me for a bit. I figure if I can fight the urge til k8l comes out, then I can see how they stack up and which is worth my money. I'd hate to buy a conroe rig now and then see it beat by k8l in 8 months.

zara, you think you could do a favor for me? Could you try turning on sli in the bios and running a few quick benches with the card at x8 to see if there's any difference or not? That would be immensely helpful to me! and you still run it at 1280x1024 maxed right? I'm guessing that's the limitation of your monitior?

Viper, I'm considering an 8800gtx for my rig. Also considering using it in the 2nd peg slot at x8 so I don't have to remove everything from my case just to switch to the nexxos low profile block. The 7900gt I have now just barely makes it in the first slot. How much of a difference if any did you see in gaming? Charmed, what res and settings do you play Oblivion at with your card? I'm currently playing at 1280x1024, but looks like I should be able to game at 1600x1200 with max settings in game and even some aa and af turned on with an 8800gtx.

Viper, I'm considering an 8800gtx for my rig. Also considering using it in the 2nd peg slot at x8 so I don't have to remove everything from my case just to switch to the nexxos low profile block. The 7900gt I have now just barely makes it in the first slot. How much of a difference if any did you see in gaming? Charmed, what res and settings do you play Oblivion at with your card? I'm currently playing at 1280x1024, but looks like I should be able to game at 1600x1200 with max settings in game and even some aa and af turned on with an 8800gtx.

Thanks Praz, that's good to know. I'd hate to have to remove everything just to switch waterblocks...

I'm not worried about it fitting in the case, there's plenty of room for that in an Armor! That block does look like it could be an option, though I was hoping I wouldn't have to take the mobo out again.... So one of these cards would saturate an 8x connection?

First, I'm not sure if this should go in motherboards or video cards, I hope it's in the right place. I'm looking into getting an 8800gtx. The problem is that I'm sure it will not fit with my chipset block on. I was wondering if it is possible to use the 2nd PEG slot or if that would cause a problem?

I'm looking to purchase a 2 gig kit for this mobo. I have no issues running a divider to keep timings tight or running it 1:1 if I can. I want to keep voltage low as I do not wish to use active cooling for the ram. Was looking at some of the OCZ, most particularly the platinum and titanium lines.....

Logitech G5 and some cheapo mouosepad from compusa or staples

I'd go with EVGA, you won't void their warranty by removing the stock heatsinks and watercooling the cards.

I would definitely go with the 170 or 4400 over their more expensive counterparts. Either PSU should be just fine for you.

the mobo will work with the power supply you have now. I'm using it with no issues. Your problem probably lies somewhere else. Did you follow the build guide? Will it post with one stick of ram? One video card? What are your ram timings. The Expert will not necessarily be able to use the same timings as your previous mobo did.

I'm using a dual core opteron with no problems. I don't see any reason why you would have trouble getting past 250 htt with your memory as long as it's capable of it.

I left the pci express frequency where it was and upped the LDT and chipset voltage by one increment.

DFI LANPARTY Expert - 07/12/05 BIOS AMD Opteron 170 2x512 Corsair 4400C25 (Twinx1024-4400c25pt) EVGA 7800 GT CO , 470/1100 81.98 drivers (2) 160GB Seagate Sata NEC 3540A Black IDE DVD-RW Drive NEC 3500A Black IDE DVD-RW Drive Antec NeoPower 480w Power Supply - Retail * * * * ========== [b]Genie BIOS Settings:[/b] [color=red] FSB Bus Frequency............................. - 200 LDT/FSB Frequency Ratio....................... - 5 CPU/FSB Frequency Ratio....................... - 10 PCI eXpress Frequency......................... - 100Mhz CPU VID StartUp Value......................... - startup CPU VID Control............................... - 1.350v CPU VID Special Control....................... - Above VID * 102.4% LDT Voltage Control........................... - 1.20v Chip Set Voltage Control...................... - 1.52v DRAM Voltage Control.......................... - 2.71v[/color] [b]DRAM Configuration Settings:[/b] [color=red] DRAM Frequency Set............................ - 200=RAM/FSB:01/01 Command Per Clock (CPC)....................... - Auto CAS Latency Control (Tcl)..................... - 2.0 RAS# to CAS# delay (Trcd)..................... - 02 Bus Clocks Min RAS# active time (Tras)................... - 05 Bus Clocks Row precharge time (Trp)...................... - 02 Bus Clocks Row Cycle time (Trc).......................... - 7 Bus Clocks Row refresh cyc time (Trfc)................... - Auto Row to Row delay (Trrd)....................... - 02 Bus Clocks Write recovery time (Twr)..................... - 02 Bus Clocks Write to Read delay (Twtr).................... - 02 Bus Clocks Read to Write delay (Trwt).................... - 03 Bus Clocks Refresh Period (Tref)......................... - 3120 Cycles DRAM Bank Interleave.......................... - Enabled DQS Skew Control.............................. - Auto DQS Skew Value................................ - 0 DRAM Drive Strength........................... - Auto DRAM Data Drive Strength...................... - Auto Max Async Latency............................. - Auto DRAM Response Time............................ - Fast Read Preamble Time............................ - Auto IdleCycle Limit............................... - 256 Cycles Dynamic Counter............................... - Disable R/W Queue Bypass.............................. - 16 x Bypass Max.................................... - 04 x 32 Byte Granularity........................... - Disable(4 Bursts) [/color] ========== Prime95 + 3dMark2001SE + CPU-Z 1.29 + Everest 2.01: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/NIN...reen1_stock.jpg 3dMark2003: 3dMark2005: Aquamark 3d: ========== short description: 200x10 @ 2000Mhz, 1.350v + 102.4% 2.0-2-5-2 @ 2.71v vdimm