Asus A8N SLI-Deluxe

[ArborBarber]

LOL,
You say that, as if $2600, isn't an investment. Lets face it, if you're really serious about it, $4,000 might cover it. $820 for an FX 55, $230 for the A8n sli-deluxe, $400 for a gig of decent ram, $400 for a pair of raptors, $116 for a dual layer dvd burner (Sony DRU 710a), $1,000 for 2 GeForce 6800 Ultras( @ high res. will double any single card res out there, remember you have to pair video cards up of the same family), $200 for a decent case, $150 for a S.B. Audigy 2 ZS, $200 for a WD 250 gig HD or $400 for a Hitachi 400 gig HD (deep storage), $200 (at least) for a decent PSU, so lets see...
I took the middle road on deep storage($300) and some of these prices are a bit conservative, we're at $3,826 US dollars. I didn't count speakers($400-5.1 surround) or os $100(Win XP oem) or monitor...the sky is the limit here...just remember this is for a really decent system building it from scratch, which in 1 years time will be lagging...bragging rights will be yours for the moment however...

 

[Thermalrock]

400 bucks for 1gb ram? i wanna see that ram.

 

[lemmerdeur]

Actually, I've just purchased all the parts for a nice, quiet machine other than the motherboard (nForce4 SLI) and two video cards (either 6800 Ultra or GT, depending on availability). Here's the rundown:

Athlon64 3500+ Socket939 90nm - $272 (should be able to get this up a couple of notches)
2x512Mb OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 - $270
Enermax EG701AX-VE (W)SFMA PSU - $180 (I'll assume the 600W will come in handy with this beast)
2 SATA cables - $28 (the all-in-one power&data cables for Western Digital SATA hard drives)
2 Nexus 120mm fans (for case) - $36 (replace the 120mm fans with something quieter)
1 Acoustifan 120mm fan (for XP-120) - $26 (for the XP-120 cooler)
NEC ND-3500A Dual Layer 16x DVD+/-RW - $68
Lian Li V1100B black case - $225 (quiet case, or my girlfriend will finally carry through on her threat and kill me)
2 rubber or Silicon Gel mounts for fans - $5 (reduce fan vibration and noise)
1 Rubber mount for power supply - $5 (reduce power supply vibration and noise)
Dampening mats - $13 (isolate the power supply from the bottom of the Lian Li case, improved silencing)
Hardcano 13 Fan Controller - $66 (control the fans, find Sarah Connor)
Thermalright XP-120 CPU cooler - $47 (might try liquid cooling later)
2 WD740 Raptor TCQ HDD's - $350
2 Smart Drive 2002 Copper Cool HDD enclosures - $134 (keep the hard drives cool and quiet)
1 tube Arctic Silver 5 (12g) - $17
Dell 2001FP LCD - $685

The only item with tax was the Dell 2001FP LCD (strangely enough, Dell didn't charge tax for the Raptors, and their 25% discount made them the cheapest source fo these). The total shipping for all items brings this list to about $2500.

Add in about $250 for the SLI motherboard, and another $1000 for the two PCI-E video cards (perhaps more), and you get a price of about $3750 - $4000, once these are available for purchase.

Please note that if you strip this down to essentials (one hard drive, no silencing extras, cheaper non-quiet case, Athlon 3200+), you can knock off about $650, leaving you with a price of about $3100 - $3350.

About 75% of this is being financed by the sale of various electronics I've been meaning to sell on Ebay for months, the sale of my Sony Vaio U101, which I haven't been using much anymore, and the sale of my current Shuttle microPC and 20" Compaq LCD for the bargain price of $600.

 

[Geomagick]

I have just ordered from overclockers.co.uk

Asus A8N SLI
Athlon 64 3500 Winchester
Geforce 6800GT (only one to start with)

Will let everyone know what it's like when it arrives.

Oh yeah it will be cooled by my Vapochill lightspeed, this should be interesting.....

 

[ArborBarber]

Thermal...
I wasn't too far off, even if you cut the ram figure in half and go with WD HD(250 gig)...you're still $3,500+

$820 for an FX 55
$230 for the A8n sli-deluxe
$200 for a gig of decent ram
$400 for a pair of raptors
$116 for a dual layer dvd burner (Sony DRU 710a)
$1000 for 2 GeForce 6800 Ultras
$200 for a decent case
$150 for a S.B. Audigy 2 ZS
$200 for a WD 250 gig HD
$400 for a Hitachi 400 gig HD
$200 (at least) for a decent PSU

$3516... This doesn't include speaker setup, monitor, or additional cooling, no floppy, no fan bus, no OS...if you add the last four items you'll be real close to the $4,000 mark wouldn't ya say?
I know there are all kinds of ways to build this rig, but if you're gonna spend $1,000 bucks for your video cards you might as well pair them with the best cpu out there. If you're going to Boston why stop at NY( assuming you're south of NY....) In other words you might as well go the whole distance. The FX55 is head and shoulders above anything out there. I'm sure by being a frugal shopper you can shave $400 bucks off this, but still you're going to be right outside of $4,000....now I'm in the mood to put this thing together...

 

[ArborBarber]

George...What did the board finally end up being with the vat charge of 17% ?

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: George Powell
I have just ordered from overclockers.co.uk

Asus A8N SLI
Athlon 64 3500 Winchester
Geforce 6800GT (only one to start with)

Will let everyone know what it's like when it arrives.

Oh yeah it will be cooled by my Vapochill lightspeed, this should be interesting.....

Looks like you'll be waiting a while though.

I'm going to hold off until we get a few reviews in first.

 

[ArborBarber]

*bump*

 

[Thermalrock]

finally here my .... where is it? i want one.

 

[ArborBarber]

Thermal,
You know as well as I do, it won't be around for at least another 2 weeks if not longer....mid January would be my guess.

 

[Geomagick]

The board on its own is £187 all in. that's a little over $300!!!

It's a hell of a lot for a mobo but should be worth it.

I am now waiting in anticipation but have a few things to be me occupied till it all arrives.

 

[gobucks]

I don't expect that prices will be that high in the USA. PC stuff is always way more expensive in europe relative to here. I still expect sub-$200 SLI boards and $150 Ultras. The important thing to notice is that on the websites that have these boards for preorder, the Ultra boards are roughly the same price as the NF3 Ultra ones, which means there won't be too much overpricing (hopefully that will be true when USA sites get them, as well).

 

[lemmerdeur]

Rule of thumb for prices in the U.K.:

If it costs a dollar in the US, it'll cost a pound in the UK. You'd be surprised how consistently accurate this rule is.

So expect the SLI board to go for around $190 when supply becomes normal, closer to $250-$300 in the beginning (my guess).

 

[Geomagick]

One of the main problems in the UK is the amount of sales tax we have to paay 17.5% which makes everything quite expensive. Still I guess we're used to it anyway.

Just read Anand's article on SLI and I can't wait. Will have to give careful thought to a PSU though.

 

[skogsnok]

I'm quite surprised with the high price in the UK. I have preordered the A8n sli-deluxe in Norway. It will cost me usd 222 and that's 24% vat included.

 

[babcom]

komplett.co.uk have it on pre-order for only £119, that's about $225

 

[gobucks]

zipzoomfly just put one up for preorder as well...

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...jsp?ProductCode=240418

I'm wondering if I should go ahead and preorder - I'd rather not pay $225, but I'm worried the price may end up going up. I wonder if I can go ahead and preorder, then back out if I find a better deal between now and "Mid December." Does anyone know if they let you do that?

 

[Thermalrock]

wtf price wont go up itll stay or go down.

 

[Pollock]

Originally posted by: HiroProt
It could be worse

I am on a 4 1/2 year old Powerbook, and believe me, I can't run any 3D games at all. Really need the missing piece in the puzzle for my new rig: an nForce4 mb!

Yeah, something with PCIe had better become available soon, because that's the only thing holding me back.

 

[imported_Digitalis]

It's dropped to £123.32 Including VAT at Overclockers.co.uk today.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/..._amd_motherboards.html

That's more like it.

 

[Geomagick]

I've been given a refund to reflect the lower price.

In stock date has moved to 17th December.

Come on Asus get on with it.......

 

[Icepick]

Monarch is selling this board right now apparently. The catch is you can't just purchase the board. You have to build a system around it. The other catch is the price - $315US!

http://www.monarchcomputer.com...mp;Category_Code=A64MB

 

[gobucks]

i got mine for $201+ $11 Fedex 2 day shipping from novapcs.com. I think they sold out, though, and the new price is like $299. Hopefully, i'll have my new board by monday. Anyways, i didn't know this, but apparently the mobo requires a 24-pin ATX compatible PSU! Does anyone know of any of these, or know of a way to grab an adaptor for a standard 20-pin ATX PSU? I just found this out, and i'm kinda freakin out about it.

Also, has anybody ballparked the dimensions around the socket? I'm looking to throw a Zalman 7700-AlCu in there, and i'm not sure if there will be room.

 

[Geomagick]

Most good computer stores sell 20 to 24 pin adapters, and quite a few top end PSU's now come with 24 pin.

As for the Zalman I have no idea, mine when it eventually gets shipped with be connected up to my Vapochill LS.