Seeking Aid in Determining Compatability when Building a new PC

[guitto]

I would like to thank everyone in advance for their time in helping us. I am in need of help in a compatability issue that my friends and I are inexperienced to verify.

I am wishing to configure a

Athlon 6400+ (AM2 Socket)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103191

M2N32 ASUS Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131163

2x BFG 8800 Ultra, OC Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143107

Zalman Fan for the CPU since the box does not come with one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118020

My main concerns are:

While reading the graphics card, it said that in order to use this, the new Intel EE QX6700 (sic) was required, but it said nothing about the 6400. Would the 6400 and the 2 8800 Ultras not work together?

I've always had a problem with estimating accurately whether the Heatsink, such as the zalman, would fit, and I believe this Mobo would fit it, but I wanted to verify.

Also, Somewhere around 2 years ago, I built a system with a 3800+ CPU, Nvidia 7950 and an SATA harddrive. When I was formatting windows, I got an error which the SATA drivers. I wasnt sure if it was the Gigabyte SLI BIOS or the actual drive, so I returned the drive and purchased a 100g IDE100 drive that worked fine, and I have forever had problems with SATA drivers. If i were to download vista to this system, would I encounter the same problem with SATA?

I greatly appreciate all the help you give me, I have finally found a community that helps others in this growing popularity with working and building computers. Pardon my misspellings and grammar.

The system I would put together would consist of a 1000w PSU, 250g (7500 RPM) Sata 3g hard drive, 2 gigs of G Skill memory (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231065), and Artic Silver thermalpaste.

And one last question, I would be using a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144200 case, a full ATX case with 4 120mm fans, and I was wondering if anyone was having problems with fitting the 8800 Ultras into this case and whether overheating was a problem.

If overheating is a problem in this scenario, could you please give a suggestion to an alternative, I am willing to do water cooling, but only if it is neccesary since I do not wish to overclock greatly.

Thank you,
Guitto

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Everything will work together fine. And I doubt you'd have any problems with SATA again, except if you tried to install Vista from a SATA DVD-ROM.
However, instead of getting that CPU, get this one instead. It's a 65nm chip, which means it runs cooler than the 90nm one you chose initially and since it has an unlocked multiplier, it will overclock easily to 3.0GHz which should remove any bottleneck for your cards. In addition, this cooler is a better one for your CPU and will allow you to OC it easily.

 

[guitto]

Thank you! For the cooler you mentioned, will I have enough clearance with the chipset fanless cooler? Also, do you think the 2 8800 Ultra's will generate more heat than 5 120mm fans can handle (3 intake, 2 out)? I appreciate your responses, thank you again.

 

[nickc]

if u have looked a those video card they have a massive cooler on the side and get the air out of the case so i do not think u will have an over heating problem with them.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

IMO, get this case instead of the one you're getting. To go with it, these fans will be great.