jensen7

Thanks for your thoughts so far. I have made some changes in the graphics card (8800GT) and other areas after reading your posts. Is it uncommon to get identical CD/DVD drives allowing you to copy disk to disk? I'm contemplating going with a Blu-ray read/writer as a second drive though. It depends on other component changes and price. I'm still stuck on choosing a motherboard. Below I have listed 5 motherboards that all support my processor. In your opinion, which one is the best option for me? If I choose a SLI supported motherboard I may decide to buy 2 8800GT to take advantage of the SLI technology. What do you think? Asus P5E WS Professional Intel X38 CrossFire Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 CrossFire Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB Asus P5N-T Deluxe NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, 3-Way PCI-E M Asus Striker II Formula nForce® 780i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 3-Way PCI-E MB eVGA Nvidia nForce 780i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, 3-Way PCI-E MB Thanks...

I am considering buying a new computer, but I want to make sure all the components are compatible with one another. I especially want to make sure the motherboard, power supply, cooling system, and the case are all adequate considering all other components. Motherboard: Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB Case: Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Black Power Supply: 750 Watt -- Thermaltake Toughpower W0117RU Power Supply Quad SLI Ready Processor Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor QX9650 (4x 3.0GHz/12MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) Processor Cooling: Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooling Fan System Kit Silent & Overclocking Proof = Maximum cooling efficiency for quietness and performance Memory: 4096MB [1024MB X4] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Mushkin Xtreme w/Heat Spreader Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB w/DVI + TV Out Video Hard Drive: 500 GB HARD DRIVE [serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] 2nd Hard Drive: 500 GB HARD DRIVE [serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] CD/DVD Drive: [Lightscribe Technology] 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive: 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Sound Card: Creative Lab Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeGamer Speaker System: Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Speakers + Subwoofer Network Card: Intel Pro 10/100/1000 Network Card OS: MS Windows XP Professional w/ Service Pack 2 External Power Protection: Opti-UPS SS1200-AVR Mighty Voltage Regulator If you can, please let me know what you think.