Thanks, Bill. :-)
That 5770 is supposed to crunch everything out there at high res, not that it matters. It's a decent option for recent and legacy games, the price is reasonable, and I've had really good luck with Sapphire.
This board has onboard graphics, and is supposed to be able to do a hybrid xfire that brings up that card's numbers.
It supports Eyefinity and has an hdmi port, so it's got real promise. It looks wicked badass, too. :-)
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Question:
That BluRay burner I picked is sata. Does that mean I'll have to burn up a sata port on my mobo, or does it just take a sata power connector? (Can you tell I've never used a sata anything except hard drives?)
If I can't use my ide channel, can I get a sata pci card so I have enough sata ports for my six hdd's and this here dummy? (The mobo only has six sata ports.)
Or are there other options I'm unaware of?
So far, this is the only snag I've hit. Not too bad, but it's gonna make a headache if I don't order whatever I need to make it all fly.
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yes a sata burner will use a sata ports.
yes you can use a sata card for more sata ports
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130274



this is the mother board im running ..it has 7 sata ports and i love this board... no built in video but for the card you looking to run the crossfire wont help much with the asus onboard video.


also i noticed you picked a sata 3 hard drive why not a sata 6 since the new board will support it?


im an x-asus fanboy and since i went msi im so much happier



might look at this as a sub for the video card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102913
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Aha!!! They updated Newegg. Now my wishlist shows up in the public thingie.
Here's my wishlist.
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i would go 2 x 4gig on the ram in case you want to upgrade to 16gb down the road
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Nice mobo. If it had onboard video, and 2.1 pci x16, I'd have switched in a minute. I'm an asus/corsair/amd fanboi, but msi is good stuff.
I need 3 or four monitor support, I don't game, it means nothing to me. The 6870 is awesome (the 6870 vapor x is awesomer), but for another 80 bucks, it just gives me more of what I don't need. If anything, I'll downgrade my card. I settled for something decent and reliable is all. I saw the 6870 and even carted it at one point cause I thought the price was great. :-)
On the hdd's (I carted two), it was just cost and brand. I don't need the speed there, either. No use for it. I'm retired, I'm not in a big hurry. Ever. :-)
I went and carted a pci express sata card, and I'm absolutely dreading trying to get it to work.
I think I may go look through the msi stuff a bit closer and see if I can find something.
Thank You!!!
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I might go with 16gb now. I always buy matched dual channel corsair stuff. It's flawless. If I'm using all the channels, it makes me sleep better, too. :-)
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neither board has 2.1 pcie x16 slots
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I know. Crazy, right? I can't find one that does, either. I'd probably have to go with some gigabyte POS and that ain't happening.
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While this works in theory, it doesn't always work out as expected in practice. I've had issues with adding SATA or PATA ports with a PCI card. Very inconsistent. You're better off getting a board with more SATA ports on-board if you can.
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I tried adding a couple pata ports via pci a good number of years ago. It was damn near impossible, then it flaked out constantly.
I've just decided to go with 4 hdd's and use the one sata port for the burner, leaving one open (my chosen board has 6 total). I think I carted a pci-e sata controller card to give it a shot, but I'm not expecting big things. This way I have a backup strategy waiting. :-)
I can go up to a bigger, much more gawdy asus gamer board that has 7 sata ports, but it's lacking in other areas.

I'm continuing to tweak the config, then I'm gonna go shopping and see if I can find some deals. :-)
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I finally finished her up and pulled the trigger. I damn near barfed in my keyboard and had to order a new one.
It's not a moment too soon. Last night I lost my pata rail that ran my boot drives, so I was dead in the water until I did some banging, kicking, swearing, you guys know the drill. I got her back up and running, for now.
Thanks to everyone for making me spend a lot more than I planned to. In lots of cases, I may not have taken your exact suggestion, but I honestly changed the entire rig time and time again.
I came back from the ledge of dual xfire and a mobo I didn't need, but I settled on a fairly priced screamer that will more than meet my needs.
Thanks again for all the help!!! :-)

Here's my final order.
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nice!
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Nice selection. I'm sure it will work great for you.
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You the man! That's some system and nothing like one built by yourself.
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Damn Scott that is going to be a sweet rig. WOW
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Thanks guys, I'm pee my pants excited. :-)
I paid for ups next day air saver, they processed my order today, and I got my tracking numbers. The stuff is coming to Ohio from New Jersey, so I can't imagine it won't all show up tomorrow.
I'll try to jam it all together tomorrow night ot Saturday morning, unless it's nice out. I'm making some headway on my shelves in the garage, and I feel good, so I'm gonna stick with it until I drop dead.
It'll take longer to get all this stuff out of it's wrappers than it will to build the rig. :-)
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My pile of parts is here already!!!
I have a gazillion things to do right up until dark, so they aren't helping me much. They are definately torturing me though. Grrrr.
I'm gonna at least open up the box with the case and see what she looks like. :-)
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Guys, I started a "Project of the Day" thread on the build if you wanna check it out.
Now I can let this thread die, lest I bore you to death. :-)
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