Best SLI system

Hi
I have been saving up to buy a new PC.
Ive read the articles on SLI and systems and what is the best config set to go with.

Im thinking of buying a Asus SLI mobo, a AMD -FX55, 1gb of corsair RAM (not sure what type), one Nvidia 6800 ultra sli (buy another one later on), a thermaltake 560w PSU, and a case, hdd, cooling etc

What I need help is what are the best parts on the market, to make a PC that will last me for a few years.
Could you please give me some advice on which are the best components that will give me the best OC abilities, benchmarking and jaw dropping looks both on the screen and off.

MoBo:
What HDD i need to get (a raptor, SATAII):
Processor:
RAM:
What type of Graphics card BFG 6800 etc:
Case (with a side window):
Fan Controlers:
Lights and other fancy mods:
PSU:
Water cooling or other methods of cooling:

So could you please tell me what i should be buying, and if you have links that would be great!


Thanks
NightWolf

mobo: I'd personally go with the Asus, but a lot of people here seem to like the DFI Lanparty series; in my opinion, either would be fine; I'd pick the cheaper one.
PSU: Don't get a thermaltake. Get a PC&C, Fortron, or possibly OCZ Powerstream.
HD: Definitely a 74gb raptor. (Don't go with 2x36gb in raid 0). If you have money, get a second one and put them in raid 0.
Processor: fx55 would be fine, although imho not worth the money
Cooling: thermalright xp-90. fan choices are great. it depends how much nosie you're willing to take.

I am looking to get a similar system, though it will probably take me a while to save the money, but right now I would get:

Mobo: The Asus board is my first choice, but the DFI LANParty is a good to and would be my second choice.
Hard Drive: Depends on how much space you need. In my setup I run my OS off a 74GB raptor and have two RAID arrays for storage.
CPU: For an SLI system the FX55 is a must if you got the cash to afford it because in an SLI system the CPU will be your bottleneck and you want the fastest possible. If you can wait, not sure when they come out, I would wait for the FX57s, or to save money get a 3500+ now and get an FX chip when you get your second ultra card.
RAM: Fastest possible under your budget. I personally like Corsair, OCZ, Kingston HyperX, or Mushkin memory. PC3200 or faster.
Case: Is your choice, I usually get a case big enough for all the stuff I need, and add the window in myself.
Fan Controllers/Case Acessories: Look around, a site with all the case acessories you need is FrozenCPU.
PSU: For an SLI setup I would go with a PC&C SLI and no other PSU. PC&C is the choice PSU, but it comes at a price. ($220+)
Watercooling: Look at these sites for your parts
1. DangerDen
2. DTek Customs

I would go with an NV68 WB for your Ultras and a WW waterblock for your CPU. Of course if you can afford it you can get the best of the best from Cathar.

Thankz very much for the advice and links guys

Dont get the 6800 Ultra, Buy the 6800GT PCIe, this card is over $100 cheaper than the 6800 Ultra and the only difference is a lower clock speed which you can overclock for free to faster than Ultra speeds. Buy only one for now, it's more than enough for now, wait for the new line of ati and nvidia cards to come out which will then drop the prices on the 6800GT cards and then buy a second PCIe 6800GT and run them in SLI.

For hard drive, I wouldn't buy a Raptor, they are faster at loading games but other than that you won't really notice the diffence unless you obsess over things like how fast you can move and delete files, which on a 7200rpm hdd, is more than fast enough. If you must get a raptor though, get a 74GB 10kRPM Raptor for the base and any size SATA drive that you want for your storage.

The AMD Athlon FX-55 is no doubt an awesome processor and if you can afford it that's more than fine, however, this is a $1000 processor and If I was you Id purchase the 3500+, which is more than enough, especially overclocked. Get the 90nm winchester model, though.

For cooling I would get a Thermalright XP-120 CPU fan, they are expensive but it seems like you have more than enough money and it seems to be THE standard around here for overclockers.

The case I'd personally get is the Thermaltake Xaser III Lanfire but that's just me, there are better cases out there and im sure with hardware like that in the case you are going to be very picky and im not sure if the 420W power supply would be enough.

For ram, get the fastest possible you can. I would say DDR2 @ 533MHz since you can afford it.

dont think amd boards do ddr2 dude

Avro said:

dont think amd boards do ddr2 dude

Click to expand...

No, they don't.

Enigma422 said:

PSU: For an SLI setup I would go with a PC&C SLI and no other PSU. PC&C is the choice PSU, but it comes at a price. ($220+)

Click to expand...

Strongly agreed. If you're going to get a FX-55, SLI mobo and a 6800 Ultra, don't skimp out on the PSU. As you're going for the best of the best with the CPU and video card, you definitely should get a PCP&C PSU.

As for the case, it's all quite subjective as you should get one that you like in terms of features and appearance. My suggestions would be a Coolermaster Stacker or something from the Lian Li V-Series.

With memory, my suggestion would be some G-Skill based on Samsung TCCD chips. Many people have been getting extremely high OC's from it, and its one of the best on the market.