Isn't someone a little cranky today.....
I'm always a "little cranky".Some days more so. I rather think it's part of my charm. So, like Mae West said, "When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better".
I am perfectly capable of doing the exact same thing you do (although I wouldn't consider Newegg a "review site").
Newegg reviews in essence, have to be reviewed themselves. There are granted, plenty of *****s that should be tested and licensed before being allowed to have an opinion.
However, I still do post here for some "help", in case there was something I might have overlooked. Sure, there are fanbois (and boy, some of them have a lot to say!), but some of them do have a point. In either case, I supplement all advice with more research anyway.
Perhaps since I generally build mainstream boxes, not geared toward maximum performance, it's easier to be self sufficient. Still, while advice is good, it seems rather pushy to come blasting into a post announcing that someone should change the entire system to a different brand. Well meaning, but pushy nonetheless.
IBack to the build, if you were originally going for SLI (you mentioned x20??), I agree with everyone else here that a single more powerful card would be a better way to go.
This decision is of a different paygrade than mine, so I have tastefully kept my mouth shut.
IDDR2 is on its way out. While we're on the topic of older technology, why not go with DDR1?
/sarcasm
Ya know, I wuz wundrin that mee-self.....
IHDD don't differ alot between brands, but if you can get your hands on a WD, they would be marginally better than a Samsung. I say this while I'm running 2xSamsungs in RAID0. They saved me $40 bux total at the time (on special), and I doubt I would see much difference if I went with WD drives.
I think the dual processors in the WD "Caviar Black" series, might make a small difference, but I do admit that it might be testable, but not observable. I really like the Seagates also, but that company's bad run of the larger "Barracuda 7200.11" series, has left me unwilling to recommend them, but still willing to purchase one for my "own consumption". This is a case where the reviews at Newegg had signaled trouble, since the feedback on these drives was horrific. , A sort of, "where there's smoke there's fire" indicator, as it were.
That said, I just bought a Seagate 320GB 7200.12 "Barracuda", and Windows 7 rates it 5/10 higher than a WD2500 250GB Caviar >> BLUE <<
IOne last thing. You will notice in threads like this that total cost of your build will generally go up, as people say "Oh, for x dollars more, you can get this!". Although in this case, as we get rid of the SLI (or crossfire), you might end up with something softer on the wallet.
You betcha...! People don't seem to care how they spend other people's money.
That said, I seem to be guilty of that as well, with my suggestion of stepping the OS up to Windows 7 Professional.
And although I'm happy to receive your feedback that was given in response to my last post, ( >>NO<< sarcasm), I would actually like to hear your input about that also.