No huge gains now, but true 16x SLI helpful down the road?

[trxjw]

Building my new box sometime after christmas, and I'm 90% set in the components other than my mobo/video card combination. Right now I'm trying to decide if the A8N32-SLI is a good investment if I'm not going to be upgrading again for another year at least. So right now I these are my options:
MSI K8N Deluxe SLI, A8N SLI, or the A8N32 SLI
with either:
eVGA GTX 512 or 2 eVGA 7800 GTs (possibly GTXs)

I'd like to leave myself open for a future upgrade without having to drop a huge lump of cash down the line to revamp my system. I was planning on going the one 512GTX now, and another down the road, but with nVidia phasing them out in Feb, I dont know if its worth it. So I thought maybe two GT's in SLI might save me a little money and leave myself open for an upgrade say next fall. Not to mention the fitment issues of two GTX 512's in SLI while trying to fit my Audigy 2 ZS in the one barely open PCI slot.

The system will be built around a X2 4400 and 2 gigs of G.Skill without and overclocking planned. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Motley]

I say go for the 2x16x boards... A8N32-SLI. I just built my system with an Asus EN7800GTX, and in a few months I plan on getting another and going SLI.

Of course i have the 2405FPW, so I will definatley benefit from SLI at 1920x1200.

 

[c1001]

Go for the best bang for buck with your components.

Whatever you buy now, you will have buyer's remorse by tomorrow morning. There is always something better faster stronger coming out right around the corner. It will always be priced at a premium and deliver a maximum 3-5% real world performance boost. The dollar per framerate increase quickly becomes exhorbitant. Will an A8N32-SLI be a significantly better performer than an A8N-SLI a year from now? Probably not (but there will be better 32-SLI boards out by then). So I say go with the A8N-SLI.

Save some money now and try to avoid the "futureproofing" scam. . By next fall you will be reading about the impending death of SLI, 939s, PCI-E, SATA, etc. Some of it will be good and some will be forced upon us to bring out some new standard that they can charge a premium for before the old one has even begun to be maximized (think AGP).

 

[trxjw]

Go for the best bang for buck with your components.

Whatever you buy now, you will have buyer's remorse by tomorrow morning. There is always something better faster stronger coming out right around the corner. It will always be priced at a premium and deliver a maximum 3-5% real world performance boost. The dollar per framerate increase quickly becomes exhorbitant. Will an A8N32-SLI be a significantly better performer than an A8N-SLI a year from now? Probably not (but there will be better 32-SLI boards out by then). So I say go with the A8N-SLI.

Save some money now and try to avoid the "futureproofing" scam. . By next fall you will be reading about the impending death of SLI, 939s, PCI-E, SATA, etc. Some of it will be good and some will be forced upon us to bring out some new standard that they can charge a premium for before the old one has even begun to be maximized (think AGP).

Right along the lines of what I was thinking. A8N-SLI and a pair of 7800 GTs should do me just fine for the next year or so. Thanks for the help. Happy Holidays. (I hate being politically correct )