Crossfire and sli are technologies that allow you to string along, currently and depending on your mobo, up to 4 graphics cards. Xfire is ATI and SLI is nVidia. This all uses the newer PCI-E slots. What this does is it pools the collective power of all the cards (though it does disable the outputs, so you will not be able to use the dvi ports on the additional cards.) I remember when this first came out, I was doing tech support for BFG cards (they are one of the best nVidia card manufacturers...stay away from EVGA and the others...BFG is the best). The engineer from nVidia demo'd a benchmark program on a single card machine and one that had 2 cards. The systems were otherwise identical. The performance, however...graphically speaking, was incredible.
Hardware wise, putting together a system yourself is not as daunting as it may seem...it's pretty much just plugging in the expansion cards (like video cards, sound cards, etc) into a slot, putting the cpu into a keyed socket (so it is impossible to put it in wrong) and putting memory (which is also keyed so you can't put it in wrong) You dont even have to mess with jumpers anymore on most of the mobo's out there....that was really the complicated part of building your own system in the past. Most mobo's are self configuring these days. Then all that is left is connecting the cables for your drives and the power and you are done. Even the headers for the case (the cables that handle the power button, reset button, hard drive lights, etc...) generally have a marked piece that you plug in all the cables then plug the keyed piece into the mobo. Very simple. I purchased my first new system 15 years ago...an AST 486. I outgrew that rapidly. That was the last one that I purchased...after that, I built them myself. -----Original Message----- From: Ras Tafari [mailto:rastaf...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 9:13 AM To: cf-community Subject: Re: my new computer, i think ive found it idk, its an AOC 21" widescreen guy, with no cool connectors... my 17" sony has that. im so hardware dumb, that i dont know what you mean by xfire/sli tw On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Matthew Smith <chedders...@gmail.com> wrote: > > What is the native resolution of your monitor. That will determine your > video card, which will determine your power supply. Do you plan to > xfire/sli down the line? If so that will also affect your PS choice. > > On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 8:20 AM, Ras Tafari <rastaf...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> >> ok. luckily... in a few months :) hopefully... there will be a new >> mbpro here for me @ work. >> so, this workhorse @ home, just needs to be a box, with a lotta ram, a >> big ole hdd, a nice big video card, and some usb ports. >> of course, dvd, etc... but thats all... im looking to spend ~1200-1500 >> and thats it... i spent 899 on my last >> circuit city sony box, and made well over 100k with it :) im looking >> to make the same kinda investment and make even more >> with this one .... i love spending little, getting a cheap box that >> normal geeks would scoff at, and rather than play games >> on it... BANG OUT a buncha sites, and make nice cake with it... >> >> On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 9:04 AM, Cameron Childress <camer...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> > >> > On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 8:58 AM, Matthew Smith <chedders...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> If you are on the fence, spec out a dell, then get the parts into your >> >> shopping basket on newegg. Do a price comparison. Is the hundreds of >> >> dollars you save worth it, or is the extra expense worth it for >> something >> >> that arrives at your door ready to go and has tech support attached. >> > >> > Sometimes you can also find one or two components that will save you >> > substantial money. You could spec out a Dell and put very little RAM >> > in it, then buy the RAM from NewEgg. That gives you a machine you >> > didn't have to assemble, you just have to swap out the memory >> > yourself, which is pretty easy to do. >> > >> > I mentioned previously that my new laptop will be a Mac. I plan on >> > buying it with minimum RAM because buying pre-installed memory >> > upgrades from Apple is WAY more pricey than buying it yourself. >> > >> > -Cameron >> > >> > . >> > >> > >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:314777 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
