If Not SLI, Then What?

[MovieMan000]

If you aren't really a gamer, but do lots of app intense programs and video burning and editing, what board would you use if not SLI and going with 2 videocards?

I currently run an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe on an XP 3000+, but wanting to upgrade. (I do like the ASUS board though!)

Is the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe (or premium) still the way to go anyway?

Is nForce4 Ultra the best option for my needs --- recommendations?

Will be running a Raptor 74gb Raid and a WD 400gb for storage.

Would also like to go with 2gb's of Corsair.

THANKS!

[redwudz]

If you're not a gamer, Dual SLI cards won't do much for you. Video cards are for watching video, not editing or encoding it. And you don't have to install two (PCI-E) SLI cards with most of those type MBs. They will work just fine with one.

Assuming a 64bit CPU, Nforce 4 would be my choice for chipsets.

Unless you are running a 64bit OS or have some apps like Photoshop that can use more than 1GB of memory, you won't see much if any improvement with more than 1GB RAM. Editing and encoding only use a relatively small amount of memory, CPU speed is the most important factor.

I would not use the RAID (At least RAID 0) for a boot drive. You would be better off to use the two Raptors individually, giving you three separate drives. Just my opinion.