Tossed on build...

[Hoodie]

Well Iam finally gonna build my first good pc, but I am tossed on what build I want to go with. I guess I will list them here and see what kinda feedback and pros/cons I get.

These items will be the same on both PC's:
1. Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4 (will be heavily OC'd)
2. (3) Seagate 500gig sata2 7200rpm 32MB hard drives
3. (2) Samsung Lightscribe 22x DVD+/-RW Sata Internal Drive
4. Antec Truepower Quattro 850
5. Thermaltake Armor watercooled case cooling Proc.
6. OCZ Reaper 4gig (2x2gig) DDR 800 ram

Here is where I am tossed...

Should I go with:

1. XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard
2. (2) XFX PVT98WYDFH GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card (Will be heavily OC'd as well)

If I go with this set-up I will have the option of adding a 3rd vid card, which in a year I would end up doing.


Or should I go with:

1. DFI LANPARTY UT X48-T2R LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard
2. (3) HIS Hightech H483FN512P Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card (OC'd to at least 4850 specs)

This would limit me to only ATI cards in the future and I would need to buy all 3.

What do you guys think? Both of these are within my budget and I have my mind set on one or the other, but cant decide which.

Hoodie

[Damlite]

Add in a cpu cooler as well to keep your OC'd cpu healthy. The stock intel cpu coolers dont seem to do very well under oc conditions.

I'd go for the first combination. I have the XFX 780i and the older 9800GTX standard version overclocked to 780/1140 and runs super stable and cool. The ESA software allows you to very easily overclock your components from your OS as well. Although a bit more pricey, it is definately worth the buck invested, and the new 9800GTX+s are levelling the performance/price margin to its ATI equivalents. If you went for this combo, I'd go for the evga 780i FTW and 9800GTX+ SSC edition instead, no real difference except evga tend to have better warranty policies and customer service (and I think their parts are slightly cheaper). The 780i chipset also has excellent overclocking capability with the Q6600, and as you said there's room left for a third card if the overclocking isnt enough.

[Hoodie]

Yeah the Proc will be watercooled by the kit that comes with the case, so no worries there. I am gonna go ahead and go with the 2 9800GTX+ set-up, I have alway been a N-Vidia fan anyway.

Hoodie