Quote Originally Posted by 'Tsunami',index.php?page=Thread&postID=162034#post 162034

core i7, over clocked to 3.8ghz.( you can do this yourself)
800+watt psu
2x ati4870s
9-12 gb of ddr3 tri channel ram
any 2 velociraptor's in raid0, 750gb-1tb data drive.
2x hp-w2408 24" monitors. (these have a great stand)
This is a good list of what I'd suggest to anyone wanting to build an i7 machine, but for our multiboxing purpose, a good SSD is missing for hosting data. Personally, I'd rather have a single Vrap (OS and games/apps) and an SSD (host WoW /data) than two Vraps in RAID0 doing all the work. At any rate, the proof has been demonstrated many times here already.. even one SSD is faster for hosting WoW's /data for fetching data in busy areas than multiple Velociraptors in RAID0.

Even better? 2 300GB velociraptors in RAID0 to host OS and games/apps, and 2 small & quick SSD's (I love Intel's now) in RAID0 to host WoW /data. Might want to pick up a PCI-express RAID controller though..

For the most part, I agree with your comments on the 4870X2. It's a total waste of money for multiboxing over two 4870 cards.
4870X2:
Doesn't scale any better than 2 4870's.
One card - it dies, no gaming.
Huge.
More expensive than two 4870's.
You won't be using more than 2 monitors without more cards.

2x 4870 cards:
Choice to run in SLI (for non-multibox gaming) or not (3-4 monitors for multiboxing).
Use 1-4 monitors.
Two cards - one dies, you still have an operational computer.
When you're gaming on one monitor, you're not burning through power.

However, all the comments about the Matrox TripleHead2Go don't apply to running multiple large monitors. Unless things have changed in the last 8 months with that product, it's limited to 3x 1280x1024 monitors, and it can't handle 2x 1920x1200 monitors (I asked Matrox about it around May 2008).