Originally posted by Scrap
TC,
The Opteron 148 is a 3700+ SanDiego. Only diff is that the Opteron is held to a higher standard off the assembly line.
Also, if you look at the differences between the ASUS A8R-MVP and the ASUS A8N-E were only talking interfaces. Otherwise they are identical.
A8NR-MVP $95.99 :
3 PCI
2 PCI x16
1 PCI x1
*firewire
A8N-E $94.99 :
3 PCI
1 PCI x16
2 PCIx1
*no firewire
As for the A8N Delux, the board is SLI. That means you will have to go with Nvidia when stepping up to dual GPU. Not that there's anything wrong with that... 
you picked me apart, scrap.
if he went with the crossfire MB< would he not have to use Ati crossfire enabled video cards? that is how I read it anyways..
is the opteron locked or unlocked for overclocking? if it is locked like some AMD processors, then the San Diego 3700+'s look to be better from a gamers view, maybe....
firewire, I always used a 9 or 10 dollar belkin firwire pci card ( my opinion it works better than onboard on the MB firwire jsut my opinion though ) but his crossfire edition MB he originally chose did have a firewire port and two crossfire ready X16 pci-E slots.....
if people decide to use the dual vid cards, most all I read opt for the SLI and nividia cards vs the Ati crossfire setup......
was my reason for saying go full tilt and use the A8n 32 Deluxe SLI board...... would have to go with nividia cards though, but I am not knocking the nivda vid cards by any means......either
as for the X800 coming with all 16 pipelines unlocked 1st I heard or seen of it, all reviews I have read at Tom's or thru newegg, or that other adtech place say pro versions are 12 pipes some or all 1300's are 12 pipes, the XT versions are 16 pipelines, they supposedly stopped after the 800/or 700 series on giving the user the option of unlocking the extra pipelines......... ( the pipeline count is supposedly based on the pro/Gto/XT version of the card you picking from what I have read ie Tom's/Ati website/ and post by owners of particular cards ) there are some GTO's and XTs that offer dual DVI and then some that offer DVI and analog etc....
our 850Pro is 12 pipelines and wil not unlock, our 850XT is 16 pipelines out of the box.... but both cards are overclockable.......
I agree, got with premium grade memory, you will not regret it......
I think Karaya has chosen a decent pc build, is his money, we all just giving him our opinions.....he is has the burden deciding if he chose the right stuff for what he is wanting to gain...
<----often wonders how much time all of us waste just sitting reading up on stuff and asking questions, man do we miss alot of fishing, golfing, swimming, woman chasing, time spent outdoors........list goes on, not forgetting all our honey do list we keep putting off, Honey, I just got to find out about this product, if it is worth buying, just a few more minutes please ( 2 hours later ) honey, I found an interesting article, I need to read this and I promise, I will wash your car and change your oil before dark.....oops honey, I forgot to get ya oil, I will play online with the guys in AH tonight, and make sure I fix ya car 1st thing Monday morning
)
heck, I am just a dweeb, I know from what I have built, and from advice from a few here, mentioned 1 of them already, that I have yet to have any problems.....and I thank this forum and Whels for being part of that!!
