Building w/ SLI and SATA

[EXCellR8]

Alright I'm planning to build a new computer soon but I'm not real sure how to go about doing a few things. This new system will be using two graphics cards and three hard disks... which are my first concern.

I have two IDE drives that I plan to reuse. I'm going to move all of my personal files to one and reinstall the OS on the other. I bought a 500GB SATA disk for all my games. Will I be able to use both types of disks in one system or will I have to choose between interfaces?

My next concern lies with the video cards. I would like to know if I should install both cards when I set up the computer (reformat and install windows) or add the second card later on. The motherboard I will be using has a selector card that allows for single or dual video card configuration. Would I be able to set the card to dual cards and be able to install the OS normally or would I run into problems?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I want to build this new computer soon because I have a LOT of software to install for school and I need more power and space for all my projects. Thanks in advance!

[EDIT]: I probably should have posted this in the "Windows OS" forum...

 

[raybay]

If you are going to put out the cash for that configuration, get extra SATA drives. Your high level motherboard will love you for it. You can do what you want, with extra adapters but you somewhat cripple the build compared to what it would be with a first class setup.

 

[EXCellR8]

So... reusing my IDE hard drives isn't a good idea? This new motherboard has headers for both interfaces so I figured I would just save some money and reuse my old drives. Plus, all of my stuff is one them so I didn't want to have to move it all. I'm not looking to build a "first-class" system; it's actually a budget build if you ask me. I have a Q6600 and a P5N-E SLi motherboard to work with so it's more of a gaming/workspace type of system. Not top of the line by any means but I'm expecting a big performance increase over the system I am currently running.

 

[Whiffen]

You should be able to use both interfaces at once without any problem.

You can have both cards in there before formatting and it shouldn't conflict with anything. If you do have a problem you can always take one out.

 

[EXCellR8]

Alright thanks, I figured I would be able to use both drive interfaces since the board has support for both... i also have my IDE optical drives that i wanted to reuse so I guess I'll be able to do that as well. As far as the graphics cards go, I didn't see why I couldn't just install both cards right from the get go but I haven't built an SLi machine from scratch... so I wanted to know. Thanks again!