Few PC building questions

[Saijyu]

Well I've decided to upgrade my computer and instead of spending money on a High-end computer that costs more than it's worth I've decided to just build my own to replace my old Dimension 4600i which I've had for years now. I've already picked out everything I need and want from Newegg so I'm not illiterate when it comes to hardware there's just a few things I need confirmed and a few question I have. Here's everything I have picked out:

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Case ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133154')
Foxconn P45A-S LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186148)
Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131)
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 --- x2 for 8GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284)
1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007)
EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339)
SCEPTRE X24WG-1080P Black 24" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112011)
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit OEM


Now for the questions:
Anybody notice any compatibility issues with these right off the bat?
Will these be able to SLI right away if I just get a second card and plug it in? Or will I need to get something for that?
Will I be able to get 1 or 2 more of the same hard drives and put them in raid right away or do I need something extra?
Will two of the video cards in SLI be able to run 2 or 3 monitors (the one there and 1 or 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094)


I think that's all the question I have. This is my first time actually buying everything for a computer I plan to put together and I've never had an experience with Raid setup or SLI so they're pretty new to me. Thanks for reading over all of this any help at all is appreciated :thumbsup:

EDIT: Also has anybody had any experience with Swiftech H20-220 Compact CPU Water Cooling Kit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108105) or have any other suggestions for it or something else up top just let me know 8)

[mikekim]

Anybody notice any compatibility issues with these right off the bat?
looks ok - just check your ram is ddr3 1333 or higher to max out your modo speed


Will these be able to SLI right away if I just get a second card and plug it in? Or will I need to get something for that?
yes you should get an SLI connector with the motherboard


Will I be able to get 1 or 2 more of the same hard drives and put them in raid right away or do I need something extra?
you would have to rebuild your pc's O/S from scratch to create the raid set


Will two of the video cards in SLI be able to run 2 or 3 monitors (the one there and 1 or 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094)
as soon as you activate SLI you can only run 1 monitor, you could however put in two cards and (not sli connected) and run up to 4 screens

[Silya]

using a windows vista, would be the stupidest thing ever ! use linux or windows xp.. know it only register 3 gb ram, but my 5x wows only take 2,3 and i am able to use 3,4 before it reaches it limit.. and xp only eats up the 300 Mb ram, were vista uses 1 gb... Xp and linux will aswell be improving your perfomence A LOT, would guess:

XP = 10-20 %
linux= 15-40 %

[Silya]

[list]
Will two of the video cards in SLI be able to run 2 or 3 monitors (the one there and 1 or 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094)
as soon as you activate SLI you can only run 1 monitor, you could however put in two cards and (not sli connected) and run up to 4 screens

SLI should be able to run 2 monitors

[Saijyu]

Qoute by mikekim:

as soon as you activate SLI you can only run 1 monitor, you could however put in two cards and (not sli connected) and run up to 4 screens I wasn't sure if that was a possible solution, would that give an extra performance boost like SLI or would it just allow for the extra monitors?
and if not would it be possible to do both? Run SLI when I want the extra power boost and run them seperately for multi-boxing?


Quote by Silya

using a windows vista, would be the stupidest thing ever ! use linux or windows xp.. know it only register 3 gb ram, but my 5x wows only take 2,3 and i am able to use 3,4 before it reaches it limit.. and xp only eats up the 300 Mb ram, were vista uses 1 gb... Xp and linux will aswell be improving your perfomence A LOT, would guess:

XP = 10-20 %
linux= 15-40 %
As much as I would prefer to stick with XP I hear that 64-bit is a lot more buggy than 32-bit, as for Linux I would actually like to use Linux but i've never used it before and I wouldn't be comfortable putting it on this PC. Also I plan to use this PC for other games as well and not just multiboxing so the extra 4GB of ram i could use will make up for what I lost and although I don't like vista I don't seem to have much of a choice :S, thanks for the advise though :)


Thanks for all your help guys :thumbup:

[mikekim]

Qoute by mikekim:

as soon as you activate SLI you can only run 1 monitor, you could however put in two cards and (not sli connected) and run up to 4 screens I wasn't sure if that was a possible solution, would that give an extra performance boost like SLI or would it just allow for the extra monitors?
and if not would it be possible to do both? Run SLI when I want the extra power boost and run them seperately for multi-boxing?

Thanks for all your help guys :thumbup:its a simple matter of enabling SLI in the Nvidia control panel when needed

[Saijyu]

Qoute by mikekim:

as soon as you activate SLI you can only run 1 monitor, you could however put in two cards and (not sli connected) and run up to 4 screens I wasn't sure if that was a possible solution, would that give an extra performance boost like SLI or would it just allow for the extra monitors?
and if not would it be possible to do both? Run SLI when I want the extra power boost and run them seperately for multi-boxing?

Thanks for all your help guys :thumbup:its a simple matter of enabling SLI in the Nvidia control panel when needed

Thanks for all your help! I probably won't be getting this system for a few months and by then i'm sure there will be better stuff for this price, but the information is much appreciated and will help out tons :thumbsup:

[wowphreak]

Heatsink for the cpu?

[Saijyu]

Heatsink for the cpu?

I don't think that I'll actually need one it says that the CPU comes with a fan and a heatsink and i'll also be getting a water cooling system and the case has a ton of fans (actually updating the case to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133021)