Assembling the system proceeded as expected and the system initially booted up without indicent. The user manual is excellent and should be referred to as needed. Certain instructions are labeled as important, denoted by a pointing finger, and must be followed in order to complete a task. The photograph below illustrates important information in regards to Hybrid SLI. Other instructions are denoted by a feather, which contain additional information and tips.

Manual

For this build, we acquired an AMD Phenom 9850 X4 quad-core processor, along with using other components that were on-hand. The Phenom 9850 X4 is based on the AM2+ socket, runs at a frequency of 2.5GHz and features 512MB of L2 cache per core. The processor has a peak output of 125W.

Components

The final assembly is pictured below. All connections are within reach of this system as well as the system that I use on a daily basis, which is located underneath the desk.

Final Build

System 1 - Hardware and Operating System

• Phenom 9850 X4 - 2.5GHz Core - 512MB L2 Cache per Core - 1333MHz FSB
• Asus M3N78 Pro Motherboard
• 4GB Corsair XMS PC8500 DDR2 SDRAM 5-5-5-18-2T @ 400MHz
• Tagan TG1100-U96 Turbojet Power Supply
• Dell 3007WFP LCD Monitor
• Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 / DirectX 9.0c
• Windows Vista 64-bit with Service Pack 1 / DirectX 10

System 2 - Hardware and Operating System

• Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 - 3.16GHz Conroe Core - 6MB L2 Cache - 1333MHz FSB
• BFG nForce 680i SLI Motherboard
• 4GB Corsair XMS PC8500 DDR2 SDRAM 5-5-5-18-2T @ 400MHz
• Tagan TG1100-U96 Turbojet Power Supply
• Dell 3007WFP LCD Monitor
• Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 / DirectX 9.0c

Graphics Cards, Drivers, and Driver Settings

• NVIDIA GeForce 8300 mGPU - 500MHz Core / 1500MHz Shader
• EVGA GeForce 9600 GT SSC - 740MHz Core / 1835MHz Shader / 975MHz Memory (1950MHz Effective)
• EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX - 675MHz Core / 1688MHz Shader / 1100MHz Memory (2200MHz Effective)
• EVGA GeForce GTX 280 FTW Edition - 670MHz Core / 1458MHz Shader / 1215MHz Memory (2430MHz Effective)
• Windows XP and Vista - GeForce 8300 mGPU - ForceWare 171.37
• Windows XP and Vista - GeForce 9600 GT and GeForce 9800 GTX - ForceWare 175.19
• Windows XP and Vista - GeForce GTX 280 - ForceWare 177.41
• 32-Bit Color
• Vsync Disabled
• 60Hz Refresh Rate
• Quality Texture Filtering
• Gamma Correct Antialiasing

Test Applications

• F.E.A.R.
• Crysis

Notes

• None

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