I am building my first system. I am going to use the Asus A8N-SLI Delux motherboard. I am wondering if it is okay to only use one graphics card on this board instead of two in an SLI configuration. I wanted to get this motherboard for future upgrade needs should they arise, but don't want to spend so much money on graphics cards. Also, can anyone think of a reason to go with a nVidia 6800 ultra card versus an ATI 800 XT or 850 XT? I have read so many reviews, but nothing seems to make one stand out above the other. I also posted a question about power supplies. In case that question is not seen as much as this one, I will ask again here, since it has to do with the motherboard I am going to use. The Asus A8N-SLI Delux motherboard requires an atx 2.0 powersupply (according to Tigerdirect.com) When I look for a power supply to purchase, I find some that are just atx 2.0 and some that say they are atx 1.0 and 2.03 compliant. I do not know the difference between atx 2.0 and 2.03. Will the supplies that are 1.0 and 2.03 compliant work with this motherboard? Thanks everyone for taking the time to help me out. I am still learning, and these questions may have obvious answers to many of you. Also, if you know of any good books or websites to learn about computer building from, please let me know.

I've been using a A8N-SLI Deluxe for two months and have not had one problem. definitly a rock solid board even when overclocked. There should be no problem using one video card. Just make sure if you switch to SLI you get an identical graphics card. Also, make sure the power supply has the 24-pin atx motherboard connector. The older 20-pin connector power supplies will work with an adapter, but its not recommended.

Just a further note to the post above. Make sure that you use the top pci-X slot for the single card. As for the power supply, the 20 oin connector works with no adapters required, just make sure that the seperate 4 pin 12 volt connector is pluged into the mother board so teh cpu can have the direct power supply. I have the natec 380 trupower on the board in this manner with no issues whatsoever. IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT A8N-SLI Deluxe AMD X64 3500+ Wnchst Corsair 2x512 DDR400 Dual Channel XFX6600 PCIX Ggbyte GT Pro Cooler Antec 380W Truepower Skyhawk Eagle

By the way, the ATI gfx cards don't support SLI so as you said you were looking at future upgrades and buying an SLI board, you will have to stick with nvidia. Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 Athlon 64 3500+ @2450 Dual - Corsair TwinX CMX512-3200XL Gecube X800 XT Platinum Seagate 200 Gig Coolermaster Wavemaster Silver

One more thing which ai neglected to mention As for reading that is adarn good idea, but read all the manuals that you received with the individual components, especialy the support manual that came with the board. And for the powrs upply side of things, with that type of card, and the fx processor, use at least a 480w power supply especialy if you are going to be running 2 drives. I would highly recommend this power supply, they dont cum much better than this. The link is bellow http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/power_management/ocz_powerstream_power_supply IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT A8N-SLI Deluxe AMD X64 3500+ Wnchst Corsair 2x512 DDR400 Dual Channel XFX6600 PCIX Ggbyte GT Pro Cooler Antec 380W Truepower Skyhawk Eagle