I'm looking at entirely rebuilding my machine at the moment. I'm currently using 1 eVGA 8800GTS, and I intend on getting another for SLI.

Anyways, my question: Right now, I'm using a 700W PSU (OCZ GameXStream 700w). Is this PSU enough to power two eVGA 8800GTS cards *as well as* a Western Digital Raptor X (10000rpm).

Parts in question:

HD- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

Card- Dual http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

PSU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

Thanks!

Also, incase you are interested (you aren't :p), here's what I'm looking at as far as rebuilding:

Case:
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

MoBo:
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

2nd Vid Card:
EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

SLI has traditionally had one major disadvantage: it is usually cost inefficient.

It still isn't to a large degree, but an upgrade scenario like you are contemplating with your video card is perhaps an exception to that rule. This is because a step up to a single & much faster PCB is more or less an SLI move, since a 9800 GX2 is practically two 8800GTS' (512MB) glued together & roughly twice valued ... all things considered.

The PSU is fine & capable of handling the load from those components without buckling. Though, I would suggest something with a single +12V rail like the Silencer 750 Quad from OCZ's PC Power & Cooling sub-division, but kinda pricy @ $140.00 AR. But, hey, you may never need to buy another PSU for a very long time.

Regarding the HDD, rather than paying $170.00 for that 150GB 10000RPM Raptor, you are better off picking up the 640GB 7200RPM SATA from Newegg for $99.00 shipped to your door, not only are you getting a far better deal, you won't really regret not getting the Raptor IMHO.

The case & motherboard are both tough calls. I am not sure why you can't reuse what you have at the moment, but without knowing what you currently have, I can't really say much about those. But for the CPU, you might want to consider upgrading to the 45nm E8500 instead of the Q6600 unless you really need a C2Q.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...

Jabbering Idiots: Everywhere You Look!

The PSU is fine & capable of handling the load from those components without buckling.

Nice to know. :p

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Regarding the HDD, rather than paying $170.00 for that 150GB 10000RPM Raptor, you are better off picking up the 640GB 7200RPM SATA from Newegg for $99.00 shipped to your door

I'll definitely consider this (and I'm not sure why I didn't before, heh). It does appear to be a larger bang for my buck.

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The case & motherboard are both tough calls. I am not sure why you can't reuse what you have at the moment

Fried my mobo and my current case (a stock Gateway case) is not large enough for dual 8800s.

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But for the CPU, you might want to consider upgrading to 45nm E8500.

Done deal. :p

Thanks for the info and suggestions; any more is still welcome. :D

Here's a couple more HDD deals:

MAXTOR 750GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 16MB BUFFER -- $99.99

Seagate 750GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 32MB BUFFER -- $119.99

Seagate 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 16MB BUFFER -- $79.99

In the past, I have been reluctant to recommend Maxtor HDD to folks, but lately their new drives are allegedly Seagate re-badges. In other words, the HDD is a Maxtor label affixed to it.

"Fried my mobo and my current case (a stock Gateway case) is not large enough for dual 8800s."

Easy solution! Scratch the SLI plan; wait another four weeks or so -- when it's cost inefficiency is going to be obvious -- & sell your 8800GTS in favor of a single GDDR5 card from ATI's *4800 series like the 1GB GDDR5 HD4870 which is expected to retail between $329-349. It should fit your OEM case & also allow you to pair up the E8500 with a P45 chipset motherboard if they are out by then.

The HD4850 256MB GDDR3 -- successor to the 3850 256MB -- is expected to be in the sub-$200 price range. While the HD4850 512MB GDDR3 & HD4850 512MB GDDR5 should go for $229 & about $249-269 respectively. The Radeon HD4870 X2 will ship later in the year for $499.

* ATI Radeon HD 4850 - 650MHz/850MHz/1140MHz core/shader/memory clock speeds, 20.8 GTexel/s (32 TMU x 0.65 GHz) fill-rate, available in 256MB/512MB of GDDR3 memory or 512MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 1.73GHz

* ATI Radeon HD 4870 - 850MHz/1050MHz/1940MHz core/shader/memory clock speeds, 27.2 GTexel/s (32 TMU x 0.85 GHz) fill-rate, available in 1GB GDDR5 version only

* ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 - unknown core/shader clock speeds, available with 2048MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 1730MHz

Some food for thought - eh?

Jabbering Idiots: Everywhere You Look!